From photography’s beginnings in the United States, Black studio photographers operated on the developing edge of the medium to produce beautiful portraits for their clients, while also making a variety of other photographic work in keeping with important movements like pictorialism, modernism, and abstraction. “Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers” illustrates the artistic virtuosity, social significance, and political impact of Black photographers working in commercial portrait studios during photography’s first century.
“Called to the Camera” is on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art through January 8, 2023.
