Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective

by Peter Galassi, Roy DeCarava (Photographer), Sherry Turner DeCarava (Contributor)

Featuring 200 superb plates spanning half a century, this book is the first retrospective of the work of Roy DeCarava, a great American photographer known for his brilliant photographs of Harlem and of jazz musicians such as Billie Holliday and John Coltrane. Published to accompany a major exhibition that opened at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, in early 1996.

Genres: Photography, Art

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine MOMA collection with a few introductions to the Harlem great photographer Roy DeCarava that I read because I had just read Chester Himes's Harlem crime series and saw his work referenced in a review. I also read a picture book, Everywhere Beauty Is Harlem: The Vision of Photographer Roy DeCarava which is a great intro to his work for children. Some famous people are featured in this retrospective, but most photos are celebrations of everyday life, ordinary experience.

Some of his work:

https://www.artnet.com/artists/roy-de...

[Jon]

I don't know if one can "read" a book of photographs but I like De Carava's dark, moody, brooding photos of (primarily) Afro-Americans. (So different from the exuberance of the equally talented Charles "Teenie" Harris.) He's best known for his collaboration with Langston Hughes, THE SWEET FLYPAPER OF LIFE, but (as much as I love Hughes) that book bugs me, I admit it. Some of those same photos are included here and I prefer them without the accompanying text. I guess I find Hughes' text too sentimental and I prefer him when he gets a bit nasty, as in his story about a father who can't accept his son's effeminacy, "Blessed Assurance", or "Slave on the Block", one of the most mean-spirited, and most brilliant, short stories ever written. This collection includes a couple of biographical pieces about De Carava that are well worth reading, but you can skip De Carava's own running commentary in THE SOUND I SAW, his collection of jazz photos--let's just say that as a writer, he was a damn fine photographer.

[Tisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this book at the San Francisco MoMA, before a presentation given by Mr. DeCarava and his wife, Sherri. The photographs here continue to stun me, and are a better memory than the show, which was improperly hung and lit (glare on glass). I love that DeCarava worked hard to innovate with how black people are photographed, and I love even more his unwillingness to simply give away the secrets of his success. However, the passion behind it, his love of black people, of jazz, of human and civil rights, and his turning the idea of darkness=evil on it's head, shows in every shot. What also shows through, and is of the utmost importance to a photographer, is patience, which to me, imbues photography with its value as much as the look of immediacy. This is a big, beautiful book. Get it and gaze at the work of a master.