Two Women, Manikin’s Hand, New York

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Roy DeCarava, Two Women, Manikin's Hand, New York, 1950, printed 1982, gelatin silver print, sheet: 11 x 14 in. (27.9 x 35.5 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by Henry L. Milmore, 1992.15.2, © 1982, Roy DeCarava

Artwork Details

Title: Two Women, Manikin’s Hand, New York
Artist: Roy DeCarava
Date: 1950, printed 1982
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 11 x 14 in. (27.9 x 35.5 cm.)
Copyright: © 1982, Roy DeCarava
Credit Line: Museum purchase made possible by Henry L. Milmore
Mediums Description: gelatin silver print
Classifications: Photography
Photoprint
Subjects: Figure group
Cityscape — New York
Dress — accessory — scarf
Figure group — female — bust
Figure female — fragment — hand
Object Number: 1992.15.2
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1992.15.2

Artwork Description

DeCarava once wrote that he wanted to photograph “not the famous and well known, but the unknown and unnamed, thus revealing the roots from which spring the greatness of all human beings.” An intensely personal quality distinguishes DeCarava’s photographs, yet his subjects are never removed from the environments they inhabit. DeCarava was born in Harlem in 1919. In 1952, he became the first African American photographer to win a Guggenheim Fellowship. Temporarily freed from financial concerns, DeCarava continued taking pictures of the people of Harlem “morning, noon, and night, at work, going to work, coming home from work, at play.”

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