ROY DECARAVA
American
Personal expression shapes the modernist photo-
graphy of Roy DeCarava. Raised in Harlem in the
1920s, the Harlem Renaissance—a period that
called for the self-representation of the Black
experience—profoundly influenced his photo-
graphs. By the early 1950s, DeCarava produced
such poignant prints as Graduation(1949) and
ManComingUpSubwayStairs(1952), photo-
graphs that characterize his humanity and apti-
tude for juxtaposition. Their vitality aligned him
early in his career with important figures in Amer-
ican photography, leading to inclusion in such
monumental exhibitions as The Family of Man
(1955), organized at the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) by Edward Steichen. His inclusion
exemplifiesDeCarava’sworkasanoverallexpres-
sion of the human experience, told through the
lives of New York’s city laborers and the glimpses
of life that are often taken for granted when pas-
sing through the urban landscape.
When discussing his work, DeCarava confronts
the dilemma of categorization:
The major definition has been that I am a documentary
photographer, and then...I became a people’s photogra-
pher, and then I became a street photographer, and then
I became a jazz photographer and oh, yes, I mustn’t
forget, I am a black photographer...and there is nothing
wrong with any of those definitions. The only trouble is
that I need all of them to define myself.
(Blue c. 1984)
In postwar America, focus on city living and
advancements in the hand-held camera created a
rise in photographic consciousness and the phe-
nomena called ‘‘street photography.’’ Attention
shifted from the war’s aftermath to changes wit-
nessed on America’s urban streets. Photographers
Robert Frank, Helen Levitt, and Lisette Model
grew to acclaim during the 1950s for this instanta-
neous snapshot that presented the fringe of Amer-
ican culture. For DeCarava, his urban vision was
inspired by personal concerns to dignify his com-
munity, but also by the technical challenge of a
given situation. Similar to Henri Cartier-Bresson,
DeCarava was the man on the street, responding to
the conditions of his environment. He used the
camera’s mechanics to evoke particular responses
to light and shadow. With suspended manipula-
tion, his images allow for unfocused passages, as
inColtrane on Soprano(1963), where the camera’s
shutter has remained open long enough to capture
the instrument in a blur from John Coltrane’s
rhythmic playing. Yet he also created strikingly
intimate views of everyday family life, couples dan-
cing in a kitchen, a father holding his baby.
DeCarava was born in 1919. His mother emi-
grated from Jamaica to New York during the
Great Migration and raised her only son during a
period when economic depression effected the opti-
mism of the Harlem Renaissance. Despite the hard-
ships, he attended lower Manhattan’s Textile High
School where his exposure to Vincent Van Gogh
taught him expressionism, which he later applied to
photography. In 1938, he entered the Cooper Union
School of Art and studied painting and printmaking.
He later transferred to the Harlem Community Cen-
ter in 1940, a dynamic location for young African-
American artists. His return to Harlem included
participation in the Works Progress Administra-
tion’s workshops and introduced him to painters
Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis,
and Charles White.
Initially DeCarava experimented with photogra-
phy’s formal abilities to crop and provide light
contrasts to inform his silkscreens. By 1949, DeCa-
rava solely fixed his camera, loaded with black and
white film, on the streets of Harlem. In 1950, gal-
lerist Mark Perper offered him a solo exhibition
and introduced him to Homer Page, a seasoned
technician and prote ́ge ́of Edward Steichen. Page
taught DeCarava to print with less contrast and to
use a narrower range of blacks in favor of gray
tonalities to enhance spatial relationships and
evoke stronger expression. As a result, defined
whites are separated from shadows to enhance the
subject.Hallway(1953), one of his most acclaimed
images, exploits these tonalities in favor of sym-
bolic meaning. The range of grays contrast the
softened glare of the single light bulb dangling in
a narrow hallway, communicating the housing
situation that many people emigrating to urban
cities encountered. Page introduced him to Stei-DECARAVA, ROY