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Acquisitions

Portfolio of photographs acquired from Dawoud Bey’s Night Coming Tenderly, Black

February 22, 2021 - Jessica S. McDonald

In 2017, renowned portraitist Dawoud Bey (American, b. 1953) reflected on his four-decade career by stating simply, “my work has largely been based on representation of the human subject.” He explained that he has used photography to depict “subjects such as the black subject, or young people, who are not always—within the larger social conversation—thought of as having a rich interior life.” In addition to these poetic portraits of ordinary people, Bey has recently begun confronting central events in African American history, asking, “what kind of work can one make about something that happened decades ago?”   

This question is vital to Bey’s newest project, Night Coming Tenderly, Black, completed in 2017. Bey has written, “Night Coming Tenderly, Black is a visual reimagining of the movement of fugitive slaves through the Cleveland and Hudson, Ohio landscapes as they approached Lake Erie and the final passage to freedom in Canada. Using both real and imagined sites, these landscape photographs seek to recreate the spatial and sensory experiences of those moving furtively through the darkness.” 

Dawoud Bey (American, b. 1953), Untitled #18 (Creek and House), from the portfolio Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2018. Gelatin silver print, 20 x 24 in. Photography Collection, purchase, 2019:0014:0005 © Dawoud Bey. May not be reproduced without permission from the photographer.

Bey’s masterful printing methods work to convey the sensory experience he seeks to recreate. Initially photographing these landscapes by day, Bey printed them in the deep blacks and rich grays of night. The results allow the delicate tonal gradations and fine details to slowly emerge. Bey has described the darkness in these prints as “a metaphor for an enveloping physical darkness, a passage to liberation that was a protective cover for the escaping African American slaves.”  

Using both real and imagined sites, these landscape photographs seek to recreate the spatial and sensory experiences of those moving furtively through the darkness.
—DAWOUD BEY

A portfolio of ten photographs from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, published in 2018, has been acquired by the Harry Ransom Center in partnership with Black Studies at The University of Texas at Austin. This acquisition supports Black Studies’ goal of increasing the University’s collection of primary documents relating to cultures of the African Diaspora, and the Ransom Center’s aims of enriching its photography holdings by acquiring works by historically underrepresented artists. 

This article appeared in the print edition of the Ransom Center Magazine (Spring 2020).

Filed Under: Acquisitions, Featured1, Photography Tagged With: African American Creators, Dawoud Bey

Flash Fiction Collection established at the Ransom Center

April 27, 2020 - Megan Barnard

FlashFictionFieldGuide

More than 250 books and journals were recently donated to establish a Flash Fiction Collection at the Harry Ransom Center. The collection includes anthologies, journals, chapbooks, single-author collections, and books about the writing of flash fiction. [Read more…] about Flash Fiction Collection established at the Ransom Center

Filed Under: Acquisitions, archive, Authors, Books + Manuscripts, Featured1 Tagged With: fiction, writers

Journalist, Screenwriter Aaron Latham Donates His Papers

January 25, 2019 - Jennifer Tisdale

Author, journalist and screenwriter Aaron Latham has donated his papers to the Harry Ransom Center.  [Read more…] about Journalist, Screenwriter Aaron Latham Donates His Papers

Filed Under: Acquisitions, Featured1, literature Tagged With: Aaron Latham, author, journalism, screenwriting

Archive examines creative process in photography

January 11, 2019 - Harry Ransom Center

More than 35 years ago, prominent artists Robert Frank, Dave Heath, Robert Heinecken and John Wood agreed to participate in a project exploring creativity in photography. Led by art historians Susan E. Cohen and William S. Johnson, the three-year collaborative project examined the artists’ creative process . Until now, no comprehensive record of those efforts  has been accessible.

[Read more…] about Archive examines creative process in photography

Filed Under: Acquisitions, Photography Tagged With: Dave Heath, Joan Lyons, John Wood, Robert Frank, Robert Heinecken, Susan Cohen, Visual Studies Workshop, William Johnson

Archive of photographer Fritz Henle comes to Texas

February 27, 2018 - Jennifer Tisdale

Nieves Orozco

Image: Fritz Henle (American, b. Germany, 1909–1993), [Nieves Orozco], 1943. Gelatin silver print (contact sheet). Fritz Henle Papers and Photography Collection © The Fritz Henle Estate

The Harry Ransom Center has acquired the Fritz Henle archive, containing about 180,000 black-and-white negatives, 10,000 color transparencies, 150 contact sheet books, 11 books of magazine clippings and tear sheets and thousands of work prints spanning the photographer’s six-decade career. The materials were donated by the Henle Archive Trust. [Read more…] about Archive of photographer Fritz Henle comes to Texas

Filed Under: Acquisitions, Photography Tagged With: acquisition, Fritz Henle, Photography, release, University of Texas Press

A nomad’s writing finds a home

September 25, 2017 - Stephen Enniss

Q&A with Michael Ondaatje

Michael Ondaatje began his career as a poet but is best known as the author of the 1992 Booker Prize-winning novel The English Patient, which was made into a critically-acclaimed motion picture. He was born in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in 1943; he moved to Canada at age 18. [Read more…] about A nomad’s writing finds a home

Filed Under: Acquisitions, Authors, Books + Manuscripts Tagged With: Canada, Man Booker Prize, Michael Ondaatje, PEN, poet, poetry, Sri Lanka, steven enniss, The English Patient

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