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Roy DeCarava

Billie at Braddocks (Billie Holiday), New York

Maker

Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009)

Title

Billie at Braddocks (Billie Holiday), New York
Roy DeCarava:Twelve Photogravures, 1990

Year

1952

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

photogravure

Dimensions

29.2 x 20 cm (11 1/2 x 7 7/8 inches) (plate)

Identification

Edition

6/50

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

1990.019.8

Type

Exhibition History

Facing Artists
Twentieth Century Portraits from the Collection
Feb 27, 2009 – Jul 31, 2009

Label copy

For more than fifty years Roy DeCarava has photographed the people and places of New York, especially of Harlem. He is known for his luxurious use of the dark

tonal range as well as his compassion for his subjects, both evident in this portrait of legendary singer Billie Holiday (American, 1915-1959) taken at Harlem’s

Braddock Hotel. Jazz musicians were frequent subjects. In his 2001 book The Sound I Saw: Improvisation on a Jazz Theme he writes, “Jazz to me is the musical expression of subjective individual emotions by particular individuals in their own unique way.”

Roy DeCarava
Photographs from the Collection
Jan 11, 2002 – Mar 31, 2002

Image use

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009)
Billie at Braddocks (Billie Holiday), New York; Roy DeCarava:Twelve Photogravures, 1990, 1952
Photogravure on paper
29.2 x 20 cm (11 1/2 x 7 7/8 inches) (plate)
Mary B. Jackson Fund 1990.019.8

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