Roy DeCarava

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1YV5p448xemr4BdWUcilO4MqY_njrRM6cNk_1BiXzl7I/edit?usp=sharing

Roy DeCarava was an African-American photographer whose work primarily revolved around the day to day life of black people in Harlem in the late 1940s and 50s. Born in Harlem 1919, Decarava was heavily influenced by the Harlem Renaissance in his younger years, and a major theme of his work was black life in a “normalized” or “serious and artistic” sense. His early work focused on black jazz musicians in New York City like John Coltrane, and Duke Ellington.

DeCarava uses light in a very interesting way, and that is by taking advantage of its absence. A lot of his work focuses on the importance and weight that shadows are associated with, and making light seem even heavier due to its scarcity. Subjects are often silhouettes, or partially lit, with dark backgrounds in jazz club scenery, or outside in everyday life.

Works Cited

O’Neill, Claire. “Black-And-White Black America.” NPR, NPR, 30 Oct. 2009,                                                www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2009/10/decarava.html.

“Roy DeCarava.” Willem De Kooning. Woman I. 1950–52 | MoMA, www.moma.org/artists/1422.