It's a big week for photography in Richmond, Virginia. Two exhibitions that are opening this week are going to make a splash.
Louis Draper: Retrospective opens this coming Friday, the 10th, at Candela Books and Gallery. Then on Saturday, Signs of Protest: Photographs from the Civil Rights Era starts its run at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I've been watching from the sidelines as these exhibitions developed and can guarantee that they'll be worth the drive if you live anywhere on the East Coast.
A decade after his untimely death, Louis Draper is finally getting his due. Born just outside of Richmond, he moved to New York City when he was in his early twenties, determined to make it as a photographer. After studying with Harold Feinstein and assisting W. Eugene Smith, he developed a style that was characterized by tremendous lyricism and beauty. He later became a highly respected teacher of photography and was instrumental in the creation of Kamoinge, the important African-American photographers' collective.
Last August, I had the pleasure of writing about Draper for the New York Times Lens blog. (The post includes a large gallery of his photographs.)
[Click on any of the images to see larger, more legible versions.]
Sarah Eckhardt, who curated Signs of Protest, describes it this way:
Signs and protests were inseparable in the 1960s, with words painted or printed large scale to produce maximum impact when photographed or filmed by the media. Like a visual bullhorn, they both amplified and unified the voices fighting injustice. ...the exhibition includes photographs that feature protest signs, as well as images of the larger culture of resistance surrounding them, with an emphasis on Civil Rights leaders.
A number of Draper's photos are a part of the exhibition, but he's one of several well known photographers whose images will be on display. The others include Benedict Fernandez, Gordon Parks, Beuford Smith, Leroy Henderson, Bob Adelman, and Ian Berry.
*
Louis Draper: Retrospective closes on February 22nd, while Signs of Protest will be up until August.
*
Comments