|
|
LAWRENCE -- The first public showing of recently rediscovered photographs of Langston Hughes will take place at 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 7, in the Spencer Museum of Art auditorium at the University of Kansas. Photographer Roy DeCarava and archivist Sherry Turner, director of the DeCarava Archives, will present the show.
A younger contemporary of Hughes, DeCarava collaborated with the poet and writer on the 1955 book "The Sweet Flypaper of Life," which uses photos and text to depict daily life in Harlem. That same year, several of DeCarava's works appeared in the now classic photography book "The Family of Man," produced by Edward Steichen.
DeCarava's talk, "Portraits of Langston Hughes: Rare Photographs from DeCarava," includes photographs taken of Hughes that had been borrowed and forgotten until recently. DeCarava is speaking in Lawrence as part of the Feb. 7 to 10 symposium "Let America Be America Again: An International Symposium on the Art, Life and Legacy of Langston Hughes." The photographer's lecture is free and open to the public as well as to symposium registrants.
Born in 1919 in New York City, DeCarava grew up in Harlem. He was the first U.S. photographer to use the camera for an in-depth portrayal of black life, culture and aesthetic. DeCarava began his career as a painter, shooting photographs as reference work, and he turned to photography in the late 1940s. His first solo photography exhibition was in 1950, in New York City. In 1952, DeCarava became the first black artist to receive a Guggenheim fellowship.
In 1996, a retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art that toured the United States featured DeCarava's work.
He is the subject of the 1984 award-winning short film "Conversations with Roy DeCarava" by director Carroll Parrot Blue. DeCarava works in Brooklyn, N.Y., and is a distinguished professor of art at Hunter College.
Langston Hughes is the focus of a community-wide celebration in Lawrence, throughout February 2002, the centennial of his birth. The poet and writer lived in Lawrence for 12 years of his childhood. The symposium brings together performing and literary artists, scholars and the community. Find complete information at www.kuce.org/hughes.
-30-
This site is maintained by University Relations, the public relations office for the University of Kansas Lawrence campus. Copyright 2002, the University of Kansas Office of University Relations. Images and information may be reused with notice of copyright, but not altered. kurelations@ku.edu, (785) 864-3256.