- Savoy Dancers
- from the series Harlem Document
Sheet: 13 7/8 × 10 15/16 in. (35.2 × 27.8 cm)
Explore Further
In 1936 Aaron Siskind established within the Photo League the “Feature
Group”—photographers who produced photo essays or “features” that exposed the
conditions of disenfranchised citizens of New York City. Led by Siskind, Harlem Document was the Feature Group’s
most extensive series. Lasting for three years, the project documented
life in the borough and culminated in the 1939 exhibition Toward a Harlem Document. Siskind made some of his most successful
and well-known documentary photographs while a part of the League, but he
ultimately left the organization in 1941 as his work began to take a new, more
abstract focus.
Provenance[John Cleary Gallery, Houston]; purchased by MFAH, 1993.
Exhibition HistoryExhibited: "A Love Affair with Pictures: 25 Years of Collecting Photographs at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Lower Jones and Masterson Galleries, October 14 - December 30, 2001.
Exhibited: "Aaron Siskind: Centennial Celebration," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, July 3, 2004 - September 26, 2004.
Exhibited: "On the Downbeat: Jazz in Books and Photographs," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Coat Check Room, Caroline Weiss Law Building, September 27, 2008 - January 25, 2009.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Signed in black ink, recto, lower right below image: Aaron Siskind
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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