Tickets
English
DonateMembershipTickets

Woman Walking, Above, New York

Roy DeCarava American
1950
Not on view
DeCarava emerged in the 1950s as one of the most important visual artists in the African American community. His groundbreaking book "The Sweet Flypaper of Life" (1955), with text by Langston Hughes, is a poignant study of street life in Harlem. Like James Agee and Walker Evans’s "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" (1941), it is a landmark collaboration between a writer and a photographer. Hughes’s text—a rambling story about a Harlem grandmother and her children and grandchildren—flows around, and comments on, DeCarava’s photographs. In this scene, made from an apartment window, an elegantly dressed woman strides down the sidewalk and gazes across a cobblestone street; Hughes’s text reads, “Well, where she lives they got an elevator. Pretty streets, clean, it’s on the hill.”

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Woman Walking, Above, New York
  • Artist: Roy DeCarava (American, 1919–2009)
  • Date: 1950
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 23.2 × 34.5 cm (9 1/8 × 13 9/16 in.)
    Mount: 37.2 × 43.2 cm (14 5/8 × 17 in.)
    Mat: 18 1/2 × 22 1/2 in. (47 × 57.2 cm)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Multicultural Audience Development Initiative Gift, 2013
  • Object Number: 2013.449
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Gray and Brass, John Sloan American, Oil on canvas, American
Gray and Brass
John Sloan
1907
The Ring Toss, Clarence H. White American, Gum bichromate print
The Ring Toss
Clarence H. White
1899
Necklace, Meta Overbeck American, Gold, emeralds, Montana sapphires, topazes, enamel, American
Necklace
Meta Overbeck
Louis C. Tiffany
Manufacturer Tiffany & Co.
ca. 1914–15
Doylestown House—Stairs from Below, Charles Sheeler American, Gelatin silver print
Doylestown House—Stairs from Below
Charles Sheeler
1917
Bowl, Blown and cut glass, American
Bowl
American
1895–1910

Related Content

Perspectives

Articles, audio, and video from The Met's online magazine.

Publications

Books, guides, and catalogues published by The Met.

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.