The Carnegie Museum of Art plans to celebrate the 100 birthday of noted photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris.
Harris, who created an incomparable record of historic events and daily life in Pittsburgh’s African-American community between 1935 and 1984, would have celebrated his 100th birthday July 2.
The Carnegie Museum of Art acquired the Teenie Harris Archive of more than 80,000 negatives in 2001 and invites the public to celebrate the artist and his work by browsing through more than 45,000 of his images on view on the museum’s website at www.cmoa.org.
SELF PORTRAIT—Charles “Teenie” Harris, in his studio, c.1940, Carnegie Museum of Art, Heinz Family Fund.
Harris worked for 40 years as staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the largest and most influential Black newspapers in the country. From the Depression to the Black Power Movement, Harris recorded personalities and events during a period of momentous change for Black Americans. He also captured thousands of average people at work and at play, creating a richly detailed visual history of 20th century life.
“Teenie has left us with an unrivaled collection of images that document African-American and Pittsburgh history,” said Louise Lippincott, chief curator and curator of fine arts at Carnegie Museum of Art. “We’re happy to be able to provide the community access to Teenie’s body of work via the website and outreach, and that we can share Pittsburgh’s vitality and historical significance to the world beyond our three rivers.”
Teenie Harris was able to photograph a wide range of notable people from sports, music and politics on their visits to Pittsburgh. Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy, along with Pittsburgh-born luminaries Billy Eckstine, George Benson, Mary Lou Williams and Ahmad Jamal.
In 2007, his work was designated a “We the People” project by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This initiative supports projects that explore significant events and themes in U.S. history and culture that advance knowledge of the principles that define the country.
“Teenie Harris’s photos represent a series of stories about people, events, places and conditions (both good and bad) African-Americans experienced during the 20th century,” said Pittsburgh historian John Brewer.
“All aspects of any given photo were equal in significance to the viewer. In fact, the background was equally significant as the foreground. His photos represent the ultimate balance in photography. I have been blessed with the permission of the Carnegie and the Pittsburgh Courier to view thousands of Teenie’s archive over the years,” added Brewer, who serves as the archival consultant to the New Pittsburgh Courier.
“His style, as well as the superior development skills of his work, stands above standard photography taken during his time. The black and white images have already stood the test of time. Teenie Harris photos have now become an important part of African-American history.”
Today, his images have been examined by thousands of people through projects such as “One Shot,” the Ron K. Brown/Evidence dance program inspired by the life of Harris and accompanied by “Rhapsody in Black and White: The Photographs of Charles “Teenie” Harris,” an exhibition of his photographs. “One Shot” and “Rhapsody in Black and White”—organized by the August Wilson Center for African American Culture—are touring the United States and will have visited 15 different venues during the 2007-2008 seasons. Both works will be included as part of the Wilson Center’s inaugural season in its new facility in 2009. “LOOKING FORWARD: Images of Children” by Charles “Teenie” Harris was also organized by the August Wilson Center in 2006.
Other exhibitions including images of Harris’s work are “Carryin’ On,” on view at the Andy Warhol Museum in 2007; “Soul Soldiers: African Americans and the Vietnam Conflict,” organized by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in 2006; and “Spirit of a Community: The Photographs of Charles “Teenie” Harris,” organized by the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in 2001.
In 1997, Carnegie Museum of Art included vintage prints by Harris in the “Pittsburgh Revealed” exhibition, and in 2003 and 2006, the museum invited the community to help identify the people, places and events in Harris’s photographs in “Documenting Our Past: The Teenie Harris Archive Projects I and II.” Harris’s photographs were the focus of “One Shot Harris” by noted author Stanley Crouch, and “One Shot: The Life and Times of Teenie Harris,” a documentary of Harris’s life by filmmaker Kenneth Love.
“I wish he could have seen all of this,” said Charles “Teenie” Harris Jr., of his father’s legacy. “It’s sort of amazing that his photos inspire choreography!” he said in reference to Brown’s “One Shot.”
While most know of Teenie’s photography, few are aware that he was, in fact, a renaissance man who was a co-founder of the Pittsburgh Crawfords and an avid sportsman who played baseball and basketball.
In celebration of Harris’s 100th birthday, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture will display a portion of the Harris photograph collection at Gallery 209/9 from July 2-12. The photographs on display will be from “LOOKING FORWARD and Rhapsody in Black and White.”
(Those interested in attending the Wilson Center event should call 412-281-5484 or visit the website at www.cmoa.org. work).
Those interested in attending the Wilson Center event should call 412-281-5484 or visit our website at www.cmoa.org.“What a valuable work Mr. Harris created and what valuable work (Carnegie Museum of Art is) continuing by archiving and allowing the use of his images,” said Chris Moore of WQED-TV. WQED-TV has used Teenie Harris’s images for “Barbershops: Pittsburgh Stylin’” (2003), “The Torchbearers” (2006), and “Jim Crow Pennsylvania” (2007), a continuing series of programs focused on the Black experience in Pennsylvania.
Carnegie Museum of Art has an active outreach program where oral historians meet with individuals of Harris’s era to review the images and record their stories. The museum’s community liaison, Cecile Shellman, visits groups in the region and presents information on Harris and his work.
In celebration of Harris’s 100th birthday, the August Wilson Center for African American Culture will display a portion of the Harris photograph collection at Gallery 209/9 from July 2-12. The photographs on display will be from “LOOKING FORWARD and Rhapsody in Black and White.”
There will be an opening reception on July 2, Teenie’s birthday, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. At the reception, Harris’s son, will speak about his father’s legacy and work. Those interested in attending the Wilson Center event should call 412-281-5484 or visit our website at www.cmoa.org.