Bob Gomel
Malcolm X, with Camera, Photographing Cassius Clay in a Miami Drugstore after Clay Won the Heavyweight Championship by Defeating Sonny Liston

Malcolm X, with Camera, Photographing Cassius Clay in a Miami Drugstore after Clay Won the Heavyweight Championship by Defeating Sonny Liston

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Artist Bob Gomel American, born 1933

CultureAmerican

Titles

Malcolm X, with Camera, Photographing Cassius Clay in a Miami Drugstore after Clay Won the Heavyweight Championship by Defeating Sonny Liston

DateFebruary 26, 1964

Place depictedMiami, Florida, United States

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 12 13/16 × 19 9/16 in. (32.5 × 49.7 cm)
Sheet: 15 7/8 × 20 1/8 in. (40.3 × 51.1 cm)

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number99.20

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionAssigned to cover what would become one of the most famous upsets in boxing history, Bob Gomel took this prescient photograph of the post-victory celebration when Cassius Clay won his first heavyweight championship at the age of 22. Shortly after winning the title, Clay would polarize the sports world by joining the Nation of Islam, changing his name to Muhammad Ali. Gomel suggested the growing fame of the young boxer not through a typical portrait, but by capturing another renowned figure in the act of photographing him. Malcolm X, a prominent member of the Nation of Islam and an active, if controversial figure in the civil rights movement, had been instrumental in recruiting Clay to his new religion. Two weeks after this photograph was taken, Malcolm X broke with the Nation of Islam amidst growing tension. He was assassinated one year later. Ali continued his career to become the only three-time heavyweight champion, “The Greatest.”
ProvenanceThe artist, Houston; given to MFAH, 1999.
Exhibition History"Famous/Infamous: Images of Celebrity from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Shell and the American Landscape Museum, Houston, October 23–December 9, 2002.

“Made for Magazines: Iconic 20th-Century Photographs,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 9–May 4, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

verso bottom right corner in pencil " 93.14.6 "

verso upper left two stamps, one with additions in ink " Credit to read: Bob Gomel / Life Magazine Time Warner Inc / Set #70030 / This must be returned to: Life Picture Sales / Dept of Time Warner Inc. / Malcolm X / Not for Advertising / or trade use "
"[partially obliterated] Permission and credits / must be obt fe picture / sales before this photograph / is reproduced. / Life Picture Sales Room 28-58 / Time&Life Bldg. Rockefeller Center / New York N.Y. 10020 (212) 522-4800 "

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