The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 6, 2024

Shirtless Boy, New York

Shirtless Boy, New York

c. 1965
(American, 1935–2002)
America, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 29.4 x 21.4 cm (11 9/16 x 8 7/16 in.); Paper: 35.2 x 28 cm (13 7/8 x 11 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. Richard W. Whitehill Art Purchase Endowment Fund 2016.273
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

A goal for Louis Draper was to show blacks participating in universal human experience.

Description

Raised in segregated Richmond, Virginia, Louis Draper moved to New York City to study photography in 1957. Shooting mostly in Harlem and around New York, he created reflective and penetrating portraits, compelling street photography, and, later in life, abstractions. Depicting black skin was difficult because all film was balanced for white complexions. Draper often used reflective highlights to give the black face and body dimensionality and texture.
  • Louis Draper (the artist) [1935-2002]
    Estate of Louis Draper
    (Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, NY)
    December 5, 2016
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Tannenbaum, Barbara. “Black in America: Two photographers—one black, one white—look at life during the civil rights era.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 57, no. 2 (March/April 2017): 28-29. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 29.
  • Black in America: Louis Draper and Leonard Freed. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-July 30, 2017).
  • {{cite web|title=Shirtless Boy, New York|url=false|author=Louis H. Draper|year=c. 1965|access-date=06 May 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2016.273