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From April 6 to June 3, 2001, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art is
hosting the exhibit Reflections in Black: Smithsonian African American
Photography The First One Hundred Years, 1842 – 1942. This display is a
portion of the original from the Anacostia Museum and Center for
African American History and Culture of the Smithsonian Institution.
The original exhibit includes works from 1942 to the present. Deborah
Willis is the curator of both the original and Bowdoin’s abridged
exhibits. The exhibit at the BCMA consists of over one hundred
photographs, daguerreotypes, and tintypes from numerous photographers.
The prints are displayed in wood frames and cream mats while plates are
in original casings. The display’s most notable contribution to the
viewer is the chronological order leading from the entrance to the
exhibition. The works are grouped according to each photographer
starting in 1842. This allows the viewer to see patterns and trends
develop and disappear over the hundred years of examples.
Emerging Authenticity
Authenticity is an issue this class has dealt with in terms of
display. We have considered how display can add to or detract from the
meaning of an object. In this paper I will explore how the photographs
in Reflections in Black and others by black photographers changed over
time. I assert that as time went on, photographers captured more
information along with the subject. Later photography provided a better
portrayal of the subject with this extra information. Technologic
advances as well as cultural changes allowed photographs to better
express time, location, and culture. As with all photography, African
American photography moved from posed portraiture and began to relay
real scenes from dynamic situations in changing atmospheres. This is
captured in the range of works included in Reflections in Black. As
museum displays are responsible for making a work appear in its
appropriate context, photography is serving a similar purpose.
Photographers try to capture an event and visually express the mood,
time, and surroundings. Their subjects are like the works in a museum,
and the photographer is trying to piece them together so that they make
sense to the viewer and reflect the original scene as closely as
possible. This process has become easier for black photographers with
technological advances, but the more recent photography shares the
African American culture with a wider audience in the most honest way
possible. The pictures I will focus on show how much more a viewer can
learn from the most recent photos compared to the little information
relayed in older works. This change is important because photography is
a tool to educate others about African American life, and the more
information that can be expressed, the better. Over the century and a
half that photographers have been working emancipation, reconstruction,
the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights movement have called for a
better depiction of African American life, and photographers have
answered by capturing complete and honest scenes.
Early photography was largely portraiture and most of it was
commissioned by the subject or their family. The technology was such
that the portraits were taken after long sittings with the subject and
props. The cameras were large and cumbersome, and were not transported
out of the studios. This left the photographers with little creative
space to make each portrait speak to its specific subject. One notices
this when viewing the Reflections in Black exhibit. The earlier photos,
tintypes, and daguerreotypes were all very similar. Hand-tinting added
some individuality, but the poses, facial expressions, dress,
hairstyling, and print sizes are remarkably alike. Scanning the first
room of portraits that are grouped chronologically in Reflections, one
can distinguish between photographers only by their frame and stamp.
From Montana to New York, photographs shared the same setup, style, and
finished look.
This standard mold for a portrait indicates the lack of authenticity
in the photographs. The props were not actually being used, the viewer
does not know the subjects relationship to the place they are in or the
things that surround them in the picture. Studios could easily conjure
up objects to give the picture a different quality than the person
would naturally express. The similarities between the photos are enough
to suggest that this was frequently the case. Some studios churned out
such similar portraits that they could not all possibly be authentic
representations of the individuals or times. Portrait subjects were
usually dressed in their best clothes, seated, and not smiling.
From the book Hidden Witness, the Portrait of a Young Man is a
full-figured frame which was rare in 1855, at the time of its printing.
The subject is standing up in a nice suit that does not fit him . He
carries a hat, signifying his status as a stylish, free young man. In
the opposite hand, he holds a skunk. Willis suggests that the skunk was
a prop staged by abolitionists, intending the young man to deliver the
skunk to his former master. This is a particularly demonstrative
example of the limited authenticity of early photographs. The props are
contrived and assigned meanings that are not naturally evident in the
image. However, the technology at the time made it impossible for a
photographer to capture a more candid or meaningful moment. They could
not move to a significant location or be present at the time of a
certain event. Most action was in fact staged, or subjects held faux
objects. Richard Samuel Roberts was the first to seek out a more
authentic setting for portraits when he advertised that he would to
travel into peoples homes for portrait sittings to make them more
comfortable.
The aspect of location is extremely important to creating an
authentic depiction of a person and time in their life. People were
photographed in offices, outdoors, in their homes, and with their
favorite belongings. We can see that once the subject is in a setting
where they are comfortable the product is automatically a more
realistic representation of the times. The subject is relaxed and
engaged when surrounded by their own belongings. The photographs are
also of more historic value when they include information like where
people lived, what they had in their homes and how they decorated. It
is even more important for photographers to capture authentic moments
when we consider the attention photographs are given as resources
document history. Historians take a lot of information from
photographs, furthering the value of accuracy by the artists.
The 1925 publication of Alain Locke’s The New Negro brought
attention to the cultural achievements of blacks living in Harlem
during the 1920’s. The anthology also included essays defining the
changing role of African Americans. Blacks were emerging in very public
roles as musicians, artists, writers, and philosophers. The Harlem
Renaissance was underway and America shone a spotlight on that New York
neighborhood. As the nation’s attention turned to Harlem and her
artistic products, there was a demand to document the events there.
Photographers during the Harlem renaissance became a type of
photojournalists, capturing the moods and atmosphere that bred such
artistic works.
James VanDerZee in particular was hugely successful at depicting
life for the leaders of the Harlem Renaissance. He had a diverse body
of work, ranging from portraits of Marcus Garvey, to group portraits of
marching bands, to experimental super-imposed images. The matured
technology allowed him to take photographs wherever and with greater
speed, but it had a deeper effect on the authenticity of the photos.
His subjects were truly interacting with their surroundings. As Deborah
Willis explains; ‘Missing from VanDerZee’s best works is the forced
sentimentality that makes many Pictorial works seem simplistic and
contrived’.
By the 1930s photography was so popular and advanced that many
pictures could be taken of lively action scenes. Robert McNeill
captures the excitement and vitality of the famed Savoy Ballroom in his
1937 photograph, Jitterbug . The dancing couple is swept up in the
moment, they may not even be aware of their expressions. This is a
great departure from the expressionless, unnatural posed portraits of
the 19th Century. One can feel the motion and hear the beat of the
ballroom from McNeill’s picture. He captures all the dynamics in the
room, and leaves the viewer with little to question. However, McNeill
accomplishes this without staging any of the action himself. The image
capturing real action taking place is a move towards more authentic
accounts of African American life.
Although it is not included in The First Hundred Years, Budd
Williams’ Double Dutch, of 1990 is a fitting example of common,
culturally meaningful action saved forever in a great photograph.
Williams captures the joy of the children in the picture as without
ignoring the negative aspects of their surroundings. It depicts a very
real scene of urban African Americans in the 1990s. The girls are
making the best of their resources and clearly enjoying themselves. The
classic game of double dutch also signifies a tradition of African
American culture. Perhaps the children learned the game and local
variations from older children or relatives. Williams’ tells how
innocent these children are by showing that although surrounded by
asphalt and graffiti, they are content to play a very simple game.
Although we cannot fully recognize the girls and they are not in their
first Communion dresses for a special event, we still learn a great
deal about the time from this picture. The parts of the photograph that
make it authentic are the subtleties like the cracked street they play
on, and the dirty walls of the city. The girl’s hairstyles and clothing
tell the viewer about real life in 1990, not just the fashions for a
wedding or funeral. The transition from completely staged portraits to
authentic, active shots is made over the century and a half from
Portrait of a Young Man to Double Dutch. We know so much more about the
girls in Double Dutch than the young man, yet he was probably posed for
an entire afternoon, and the girls may still not realize that their
picture was ever taken.
The three photographs discussed outline the emergence of real
authenticity to African American photography. The black photographer is
in a unique situation of being a constant journalist, one who is always
reporting to the outside viewer who may or may not have a working
knowledge of the subject. This challenge and the events of the last
hundred and sixty years have called upon African American photographers
to create and teach. Photography will not cure the world of racism in a
week, but the presence of authentic photo documentation of African
American life can help educate.
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