It’s the halfway mark for the Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Art (CMA), which means there’s still plenty of time to take in photos by one of the century’s most influential artists in the medium. Put on display after 10 years of careful research and planning, the event is not to be missed.
The retrospective of photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris includes hundreds of his most striking images chosen from an archive of around 80,000 negatives. From 1936 to 1975, Harris, a resident of Pittsburgh’s Hill District, chronicled life in the city’s black neighborhoods for the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper. His work remains both beautiful and historically significant, as he captured life during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights era, as well as moments with legends like Lena Horne, Eartha Kitt, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King Jr.
The exhibit features life-size projections set to a commissioned jazz soundtrack, along with informative speaking events. On Jan. 28, the symposium Photography and the Urban Experience brings together historians and CMA’s curator of photography to discuss photography’s connection to urban life. Artist and landscape architect Walter Hood will also talk about projects in the works for Harris’s beloved Hill District.
Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story continues until April 7.