Roy DeCarava

Roy Rudolph DeCarava (American, 1919-2009)

After studying at the Harlem Art Center (1940-42) and George Washington Carver Art School (1944-45), DeCarava turned to photography in 1946. Championed by MOMA curator Edward Steichen, he was the first African American photographer awarded a Guggenheim (1952), which funded the tonally rich documentary photographs illustrating The Sweet Flypaper of Life (1955), published with poet Langston Hughes. Known for images of daily life, DeCarava taught at Cooper Union and Hunter College; he was awarded a 2006 NEA National Medal of Arts.

Important Source Material:

James, Stephanie. “Extraordinary Shades of Gray: The Photographs of Roy DeCarava.” In Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts, vol. 80, no. 1/2 (2006): 58-67.

Roy DeCarava, A Retrospective. Museum of Modern Art New York, NY 1996.

Roy DeCarava, Photographs. Edited by James Alinder, Friends of Photography, 1981.

NHS