Roy Decarava

[Los]

Passed away this week. Not LF related, but I'm sure many of you have seen and admired some of his work.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/roy-decarava-pioneering-photographer-dies-at-89/

http://www.boke.ge/forum/uploads/post-23-1147531128.jpg

http://www.boke.ge/forum/uploads/post-23-1147530826.jpg

[xmishx]

Thank you for posting. I had no idea... DeCarava was indeed one of the greats!

Ted

[Toyon]

Belongs in the pantheon of photography. A master of the midtone.

[tpersin]

The NPR program Fresh Air replayed a1996 interview with Roy today. Here's the link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114287231

[r.e.]

I've never heard of him. Given the amount of time that I spend in New York, that's kind of embarrassing. It looks like only one of his books - The Sound I Saw - is in print. This is billed as a book of photographs of jazz musicians. Does anyone know whether the subject matter is broader than that?

[Toyon]

I've never heard of him. Given the amount of time that I spend in New York, that's kind of embarrassing. It looks like only one of his books - The Sound I Saw - is in print. This is billed as a book of photographs of jazz musicians. Does anyone know whether the subject matter is broader than that?

Lots of non-Jazz related photos in the book.

[r.e.]

Thanks, I've ordered a copy, together with Bruce Davidson's upcoming 3-volume edition of his work.

While checking out abebooks for Decarava's work, I came across a copy of the book that he and Langston Hughes did together, signed by both of them for Gordon Parks. Unfortunately, I don't have $9500 to spare :)

[r.e.]

While in New York last week, I went to a gallery that has some of DeCarava's prints for sale. The price for a non-vintage print of his wonderful photograph of John Coltrane and "Elvin" (http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=33266) was $18,000. A vintage print of a fairly mundane photograph of Billie Holiday was $40,000.

That's small change compared to what the same gallery wanted for some of Robert Frank's work, priced at $750,000 to $1.2 million.

Talking to a few gallery owners about DeCarava, I started to get a sense of why he may not be better known. Apparently, he had a pretty rocky relationship with galleries, and was none too good, perhaps intentionally, perhaps as a matter of personality and/or race/political views, at playing the game. Among other things, I was told that he had a major falling out with Gordon Parks over an issue having to do with race and what one does or does not do to be successful.

[D. Bryant]

Thanks, I've ordered a copy, together with Bruce Davidson's upcoming 3-volume edition of his work.

While checking out abebooks for Decarava's work, I came across a copy of the book that he and Langston Hughes did together, signed by both of them for Gordon Parks. Unfortunately, I don't have $9500 to spare :)

Look for Roy DeCarava A Retrospective

Don Bryant

[r.e.]

Yes, that's the book published in conjunction with his MOMA show. It is out of print and very expensive. I was able to leaf through a copy at one of the galleries, and it is impressive.

As far as I could tell, the NY galleries don't have much of his work, apparently for the reasons that I mentioned earlier. There is apparently no "rep", or at least none that the five major galleries that I visited could identify. If you happen to be at Lens and Repro, they have one of his prints on the wall.

[hmf]

Belongs in the pantheon of photography. A master of the midtone.

Never mind the mid-tones. The man could print shadows like nobody's business. At first glance they're totally empty, but then the barest forms begin to emerge. Gorgeous!

[D. Bryant]

Yes, that's the book published in conjunction with his MOMA show. It is out of print and very expensive.

Maybe I should sell my copy!

Don