Bikers Take a Break. Sunday Afternoon in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, September 1973, from the series Southern Roads/​City Pavements

Roland L. Freeman, Bikers Take a Break. Sunday Afternoon in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, September 1973, from the series Southern Roads/City Pavements, 1973, printed 1982, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of George H. Dalsheimer, 1991.80.6, © 1973, Roland L. Freeman
Roland L. Freeman, Bikers Take a Break. Sunday Afternoon in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, September 1973, from the series Southern Roads/City Pavements, 1973, printed 1982, gelatin silver print, sheet: 11 x 13 7⁄8 in. (28.1 x 35.2 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of George H. Dalsheimer, 1991.80.6, © 1973, Roland L. Freeman

Artwork Details

Title
Bikers Take a Break. Sunday Afternoon in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Maryland, September 1973, from the series Southern Roads/​City Pavements
Artist
Date
1973, printed 1982
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 11 x 13 7⁄8 in. (28.1 x 35.2 cm.)
Copyright
© 1973, Roland L. Freeman
Credit Line
Gift of George H. Dalsheimer
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group — male
  • African American
  • Cityscape — Maryland — Baltimore
  • Architecture — vehicle — motorcycle
  • Landscape — park — Druid Hill Park
Object Number
1991.80.6
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1991.80.6

Artwork Description

A back story is always featured in Freeman’s photographs, providing an implicit chronicle that links the people in his pictures with a larger narrative. Bikers Take a Break is not only an image of hip young men showing off lean bodies, it is also a reminiscence of black Baltimoreans coming together on Sunday afternoons for the beating of the drums, an informal gathering that serves as a reminder of a time in history when drumming was banned by slave owners because it kept alive the legacy of African culture.


African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012

Works by this artist (12 items)

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Jacob Lawrence, The Library, 1960, tempera on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., 1969.47.24
The Library
Artist
Date1960
tempera on fiberboard
On view
Jacob Lawrence, "Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them."--Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Meditations, VIII:59. From the series Great Ideas of Western Man., 1958, oil on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Container Corporation of America, 1984.124.171
“Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or…
Artist
Date1958
oil on fiberboard
Not on view
Jacob Lawrence, Community (study for mural, Jamaica, NY), 1986, gouache on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the General Services Administration, Art-in-Architecture Program, 1990.36, © 1986, Jacob Lawrence
Community (study for mural, Jamaica, NY)
Artist
Date1986
gouache on paper
Not on view
Image Not Available
On the Way
Artist
Date1990
color lithograph on paper
Not on view

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