Untitled
c. 1938–60
A small gelatin-silver portrait of a smiling young Black boy posed against a painted seaside backdrop, made to record and present a moment of personal poise and warmth.
You first notice his relaxed, sideways pose and bright smile, rendered in a soft focus that lets the painted waves and cliffs behind him hover between realism and staged fantasy.
As a modest mid-20th-century studio photograph, it exemplifies vernacular portraiture that gave everyday people—especially in Black communities—affordable means to shape dignified self-images and imagine other worlds through simple backdrops and prints.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Approx. 2 × 2" (5.1 × 5.1 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Peter J. Cohen
Accession
767.2017.460
Palette
Exhibitions
