Ozier Muhammad
1. Eli Reed, Pink Palace housing project, San Francisco, CA, 1981
2. Eli Reed, Women’s church group, South Carolina, 1999
3. Eli Reed, Crown Heights riot, Brooklyn, NY 1991
4. Eli Reed, A child clutching her doll in an elevator, San Francisco, CA, 1981
5. Eli Reed, Female resident sitting with only a nonworking rifle for protection, “Pink Palace” housing project, San Francisco, California, 1981
6. Eli Reed, Child residents hanging out in security shack, Pink Palace housing project, San Francisco, 1981
7. Eli Reed, Photographer Gordon Parks with his daughter, London, England, 1994
8. Eli Reed, Bluefields Nicaragua 1982
9. Eli Reed, Homeless March for shelter. Missouri, USA. 1986.
10. Eli Reed, Amateur Night at the Apollo, Harlem, New York, 1985
11. Eli Reed, Boxing Center in Bed Stuy Brooklyn, 1992
12. Coreen Simpson, Christmas Art Show, NYC, 1981
13. Coreen Simpson, Self Portrait at 599 West End Ave, NYC
14. Coreen Simpson, Jean Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, NYC, 1985
15. Coreen Simpson, B Boy Series
16. Coreen Simpson, Camille Billops and Friends
17. Coreen Simpson, Man with Rings - Arthur Smith Jewelry, 1987
18. Coreen Simpson, Oprah Winfrey 1989
19. Coreen Simpson, Richard, NYC 1982
20. Coreen Simpson, NYC Jazz Musicians at NYC’s Village Gate
21. Coreen Simpson, Attallah Shabazz with Yolanda King, 1981
22. Coreen Simpson, Barry, 1985
23. Coreen Simpson, David Hammons, 1984
24. Coreen Simpson, Hip Hop Series, 1985
25. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
26. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
27. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
28. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
29. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
30. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
31. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
32. Beuford Smith, The Day After MLK was Assassinated, NYC, 1968
33. Ozier Muhammad, Tuskegee Institutional Jazz Orchestra, NYC, c. 1983
34. Ozier Muhammad, Hillard McMoore, Rock Hill SC 1974
35. Ozier Muhammad, Kool: A Young Man Strikes a Pose in Downtown Chicago, 1973
36. Ozier Muhammad, Muhammad Speaks on 125th Street - Harlem, NY c. 1995
37. Ozier Muhammad, Church boy, Harlem, June 1994
38. Ozier Muhammad, Everyone is welcome here - Spartanburg, SC 1979
39. Ozier Muhammad, Mayor Richard J. Daley at Congressman’s Funeral
40. Ozier Muhammad, Sonny Carson, Crown Heights Brooklyn - Late August 1991
41. Ozier Muhammad, Line Coin Game Oak Lawn neighborhood Chicago c. 1970
42. Ozier Muhammad, Beware no dope, Oak Lawn neighborhood of Chicago, c. 1970
43. Ozier Muhammad, "D's Love" Chicago, Illinois, 1970
Keith de Lellis is pleased to present an exhibition of four distinguished African-American photographers who professionalized their passion for the photographic arts by establishing careers as masters in the world of photojournalism. Eli Reed, Coreen Simpson, Ozier Muhammad and Beuford Smith all brilliant and savvy picture makers, are shown here documenting the world around them in images of historical and cultural significance.
The exhibition consists of a sampling of about a dozen images per artist, each revealing a distinctive vision and a keen ability to capture the moments that tells us so much not only about their subject but about the picture maker themselves.
Eli Reed has the distinction of being the first black photographer to become a member of the elite photojournalists collective Magnum Photos along with its’ prestigious international roster of some of the finest photographers in the field. Reed’s images are a study of the human condition. While many focus on the lives of people of color in all strata of society from the impoverished to the gifted and celebrated, he treats all his subjects with dignity and deference. Reed’s 1994 canny portrait of Gordon Parks and his daughter Toni taken in London, reveal their faces etched with what feels like a complicated and perhaps difficult moment in a father-daughter relationship.
Coreen Simpson is the rare African-American female artist whose portraiture whether it be her powerful studio work or on location pictures in art galleries, performance venues or celebrity photo ops, convey her empathy for her subjects. A touching 1989 photograph of Oprah Winfrey at one such photo-op where Winfrey has completely fixed her gaze on Coreen’s camera ignoring the gaggle of other photographers. It’s that moment that makes one wish they could read Oprah’s mind as she is confronted by another professional black woman, perhaps seeing herself in Coreen’s lens.
Ozier Muhammad, a Chicago born Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, has photographed some of the most historical moments of the past 30 years including hunger in Africa, Nelson Mandela’s Election and the Obama Campaign for the Presidency. We chose to exhibit some of Ozier’s earlier work for its prototypical purity and clean lines that reveal an honesty and authenticity that are the hallmark of his later work. His portrait of Chicago’s Mayor Richard J. Daley at Congressman’s Funeral in 1973, reveals a fully formed artist who knew how to get a picture and get it right from his earliest efforts as a photojournalist.
Beuford Smith is a natural born photographer, and powerhouse in the world of African American Photography. His accomplishments include President and founding member of Kamoinge, founding editor of the Black Photographers Annual, Photography exhibition curator and owner of the Cesaire picture agency. His contribution to the exhibition is a suite of photographs taken the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. This tragic and historic event moved Smith to deal with the shock and pain of losing such a pivotal figure in the civil rights movement by grabbing his camera and preserving the fleeting moments that must have been achingly sad on that day.
The exhibition will be on view through March 29th.