Harlem in the 1930s conjures contradictory images: A vibrant, ebullient nightlife and hard poverty co-existed like two sides of a coin. The photographs of Aaron Siskind, which meticulously document the lives of Harlem residents of the period, are now on display at the Hood Museum of Art.
"Siskind was fascinated by the vitality there despite the terrible poverty of the Depression," said Suzanne Gandell, associate director of the Hood and the in-house coordinator of the travelling exhibit, which is on loan from the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.
Siskind, whose parents were Russian immigrants, was given a box camera as a wedding present in 1926 and began to translate his poetic and musical concerns with rythym, line and repetition into visual images. A profile portrait titled "Schoolboy" emphasizes the gorgeous contour of a child's head and highlights Siskind's artistry.
The mission of his early work, to document social realities, was closely tied to his socialist sympathies.
Amateurs performing at the Apollo Theater, singers and dancers entertaining crowded nightclubs, worshippers in storefront revival churches and children at play in the street are among his subject matter. Siskind even found his way backstage at a WPA Theater Project to photograph actors readying themselves for a play about Toussaint L'Overture.
Many of these scenes are from Siskind's series, "The Most Crowded Block," which explored the life bounded by 142nd and 143rd streets and Lenox and 7th Avenues, widely believed at the time to be the densest area in the nation.
Siskind stopped photographing people around 1940, and is actually most famous for his later, abstract work.
"By that point, the fact that Siskind photographed Harlem was somewhat coincidental. He was becoming more interested in form, line and shadows," Gandell explained. The exhibition largely excludes this material in favor of focussing on his work in Harlem.
English, African-American studies and history classes will utilize the exhibit. In conjunction with it, English Professor Martin Favor will give a lecture at 5 p.m. May 10 titled, "Wishing the Rent was Heaven Sent: Aesthetics of Class, Geography, and African-American Culture."
"Harlem Photographs by Aaron Siskind" will run until June 19.
