A dark, low contrast black-and-white photograph capturing two nearly imperceptible dark-skinned men gazing at the viewer with inscrutable expressions. One is wearing glasses and partially obscured behind the other.

Roy DeCarava

Five Men, 1964

Maker

Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009)

Title

Five Men, 1964

Year

1964

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

silver print

Dimensions

26.7 x 33.3 cm (10 1/2 x 13 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed on photo in black felt pen LL:DECARAVA and copyrighted in pencil below image LR

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Jesse H. Metcalf Fund

Object Number

84.222.1

Type

Exhibition History

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

Label copy

"The motivation at that moment was my political understanding of the treatment of black people and their response to injustice. This moment occurred during a memorial service for the children killed in a church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1964. The photograph shows men coming out of the service at a church in Harlem. I was aware of all this, and I wanted to make a picture, to commemorate that day. I wasn't there at the bombing, I wasn't in the church, but I knew what it was and I wanted to make a picture that dealt with it. The [five] men were coming out of the church with faces so serious and so intense, and the image was made." (Roy DeCarava, 1990)

One Voice, Many Visions
Work By African American Artists
Feb 20, 1998 – Jun 14, 1998
African-American Art from the Permanent Collection
Nov 18, 1994 – Feb 19, 1995
Capturing the Light
150 Years of Photography
Sep 22, 1989 – Nov 12, 1989

Image use

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Roy DeCarava (American, 1919-2009)
Five Men, 1964, 1964
Gelatin silver print
26.7 x 33.3 cm (10 1/2 x 13 1/8 inches)
Jesse H. Metcalf Fund 84.222.1

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