Untitled from the series The Bronx Slave Market
Robert H. McNeill
American, 1917–2005
1937
A gelatin silver photograph showing four African American women gathered on a Bronx sidewalk in 1937, made by McNeill to document everyday urban life and the precarious labor conditions implied by the series title.
Stark winter light sculpts dark coats and long shadows against the brick wall and shop window, focusing attention on the seated woman's hands and the group's tense, congregating posture as they study a paper.
As part of 1930s documentary photography, this work foregrounds the economic vulnerability of Black women and broadened American documentary practice by centering African American urban experience and labor realities.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
6 1/8 × 7 15/16" (15.5 × 20.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of The Friends of Education of The Museum of Modern Art and Committee on Photography Fund
Accession
916.2014
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
