Barber Shop Interior, Atlanta, Georgia
Sekaer became interested in photography in the early 1930s while enrolled at the New York Art Student’s League. He studied with Berenice Abbott and met Walker Evans through their mutual friend the painter and photographer Ben Shahn. In 1936 Sekaer
accompanied Evans on a tour of the American South for the Resettlement Administration, a New Deal agency. Of his photographs from this period, Sekaer wrote, “It is self-evident that they are honest pictures of real people and their lives,—more than casual ‘candid’ shots,—more than mere newsreel views. . . . A vital relation to contemporary life such as one feels in these pictures has always been an essential factor of any great art expression.” Here barbers pose behind their chairs and acknowledge Sekaer’s camera. The photograph offers a glimpse into a business that played a central role in community life for African American men living in the segregated South.
accompanied Evans on a tour of the American South for the Resettlement Administration, a New Deal agency. Of his photographs from this period, Sekaer wrote, “It is self-evident that they are honest pictures of real people and their lives,—more than casual ‘candid’ shots,—more than mere newsreel views. . . . A vital relation to contemporary life such as one feels in these pictures has always been an essential factor of any great art expression.” Here barbers pose behind their chairs and acknowledge Sekaer’s camera. The photograph offers a glimpse into a business that played a central role in community life for African American men living in the segregated South.
Artwork Details
- Title: Barber Shop Interior, Atlanta, Georgia
- Artist: Peter Sekaer (American (born Denmark), Copenhagen 1901–1950 Ardsley, New York)
- Date: 1936
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 6 1/4 × 6 7/8 in. (15.8 × 17.4 cm)
Mount: 13 1/2 × 10 9/16 in. (34.3 × 26.8 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2014
- Object Number: 2014.225
- Rights and Reproduction: © Estate of Peter Sekaer, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Peter Sekaer
1900s–1930s
Peter Sekaer
1936
Peter Sekaer
Walker Evans
1935
Peter Sekaer
1935
Peter Sekaer
ca. 1938
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