Exhibition: Through the Lens of Black Photographers

Doris and Virginia "Ann" on the steps with her 1st Brownie camera, 1957.  Courtesy of the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection "Shades of Western Addition".

A. P. Bedou, Photographer in a Crowd", c. 1910

“In a time when the deliberate distortion of black images in popular culture was as common as ice vendors in turn-of-the-century cities in August, the camera became a mighty weapon in the hands of pioneering black photographers. The same photographic technology responsible for the circulation of minstrel caricatures … was used to create counter images of African-American life—images of dignity, pride, success, and beauty. A wide array of figures such as James Presley Ball and Augustus Washington of the nineteenth century, and Robert McNeill and Chuck Stewart of the twentieth, wielded their cameras against the Goliath of white supremacy.”
— Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers 1840 to the Present by Deborah Willis

Since the earliest days of photography, black artists and documentarians have used the medium to assert the vibrancy and importance of their communities on their own terms. The images they captured with their cameras provided a different view that counteracted the racial stereotypes and bigotry prevalent in the visual media of popular culture.

This small-scale exhibit aims to recognize and celebrate the legacy and canon of many remarkable artists, illustrating their real-life experiences of dignity and pride.

To complement the fine art photography of well-known black artists, photographs taken throughout the decades by members of San Francisco’s African-American community round out this visual narrative. Pulling from the San Francisco History Center’s Shades of San Francisco photo project, this “community scrapbook” forms a constellation of friends, neighbors, acquaintances and relatives who used their cameras to document holidays, celebrations and moments of everyday life – authenticating experience and contributing to the visual history of San Francisco.

About the images in this exhibit

The images on display in the wall cases have been selected from the Art, Music and Recreation Center’s collections of fine art photography books, which can be found in the Dewey Decimal call number range of 770-779. A bibliography is available.

The images in the two wooden cases are reproduced courtesy of the donors of the Shades of San Francisco projects – specifically the neighborhoods Western Addition, Bayview/Hunters Point and Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside. To learn more about the San Francisco History Center’s Shades of San Francisco community history photography project, visit sfpl.org/sfphotocollections or visit the Center on the 6th floor.

Bibliography

Ashe, Jeanne. Viewfinders : Black women photographers. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1986. Print. 770.973 M867v

Ball, James P., and Deborah Willis. J.P. Ball, daguerrean and studio photographer. New York: Garland Pub, 1993. Print.  770.973 M867v

Bey, Dawoud, et al. Dawoud Bey : portraits 1975-1995. Minneapolis New York: Walker Art Center Available through Distributed Art Publishers, 1995. Print.  779.2092 B468d

Brathwaite, Kwame, Tanisha C. Ford, and Deborah Willis. Kwame Brathwaite: black is beautiful. New York, NY: Aperture, 2019. Print.  770.92 B7373f

Combs, Rhea L., Deborah Willis, and Lonnie G. Bunch. Through the African American Lens. Washington, D.C. London: National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution in association with D Giles Limited, 2014. Print.  973.0496 T4166

Cowans, Adger W., et al. Personal vision : photographs. New York: Glitterati Incorporated, 2017. Print.  779.092 C8386p

Millstein, Barbara H. Committed to the image : contemporary black photographers. Brooklyn, N.Y: Brooklyn Museum of Art in association with Merrell, 2001. Print. 779.0899 C737

Parks, Gordon, and Philip Brookman. Half past autumn : a retrospective. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1997. Print.  770.92 P236a

Reed, Eli. Black in America. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.  779.9973 R251b

Roberts, Richard S., Thomas L. Johnson, and Phillip C. Dunn. A true likeness : the black South of 
Richard Samuel Roberts, 1920-1936. Columbia, South Carolina: The University of South Carolina Press, 2019. Print.  779.2092 R543t 2019

Shabazz, Jamel, Fab 5. Freddy, and Ernie Paniccioli. Back in the days. New York: PowerHouse Books, 2001. Print.  974.71 Sh113b

Sue, Jacqueline A. A dream begun so long ago : the story of David Johnson ; Ansel Adams' first African American student. Corte Madera, Calif: Khedcanron Publishing, 2012. Print.  779.9979 J6312s

Wallis, Brian, and Deborah Willis. African American vernacular photography : selections from the 
Daniel Cowin Collection. New York Göttingen: International Center of Photography Steidl, 2005. Print.  779.9973 Af834

Weems, Carrie M., et al. Carrie Mae Weems : Kitchen table series. Bologna, Italy New York: Damiani Matsumoto Editions, 2016. Print.  779.092 W4188e

Willis, Deborah. Black : a celebration of a culture. New York, NY: Skyhorse Publishing, 2014. Print.  779.0899 B5611 2014

Willis, Deborah. Reflections in Black : a history of Black photographers, 1840 to the present. New York: W.W. Norton, 2000. Print.  770.8996 W679r


Willis, Deborah, et al. VanDerZee, photographer 1886-1983. New York: Harry N. Abrams, in association with The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1993. Print.  779.2092 V286w

Related Program:
Film:  Through a Lens Darkly
The first documentary to explore the role of photography in shaping the identity, aspirations and social emergence of African Americans from slavery to the present, Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People, probes the recesses of American history by discovering images that have been suppressed, forgotten and lost. 92 mins, 2014