Untitled
1945
A small gelatin silver photographic print with a blue‑ink inscription showing an African American serviceman in uniform standing close to a young woman, meant as a personal snapshot preserving an intimate wartime moment.
What hits you first is their close, slightly shy embrace and the sergeant chevrons on his sleeve, set on an empty street with a passing soldier in the background and a bold handwritten name scrawled across the sky of the image.
As vernacular photography, it makes visible the private lives and contributions of Black service members in 1945, offering a personal counterpoint to official military imagery and enriching the social history recorded in the photographic archive.
Medium
Gelatin silver print with ink
Dimensions
3 1/16 × 1 15/16" (7.7 × 5 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Peter J. Cohen
Accession
493.2019
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
