Dawoud Bey: An American Project
Apr 17–Oct 3, 2021
Since the mid-1970s, Dawoud Bey (b. 1953) has worked to expand upon what photography can and should be. Insisting that it is an ethical practice requiring collaboration with his subjects, he creates poignant meditations on visibility, power, and race. Bey chronicles communities and histories that have been largely underrepresented or even unseen, and his work lends renewed urgency to an enduring conversation about what it means to represent America with a camera.
Spanning from his earliest street portraits in Harlem to his most recent series imagining an escape from slavery on the Underground Railroad, Dawoud Bey: An American Project attests to the artist’s profound engagement with the Black subject. He is deeply committed to the craft of photography, drawing on the medium's specific tools, processes, and materials to amplify the formal, aesthetic, and conceptual goals of each body of work. Bey views photography not only as a form of personal expression but as an act of political responsibility, emphasizing the necessary and ongoing work of artists and institutions to break down obstacles to access, convene communities, and open dialogues.
Dawoud Bey: An American Project is co-organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition is co-curated by Elisabeth Sherman, Assistant Curator at the Whitney, and Corey Keller, Curator of Photography at SFMOMA.
Generous support for Dawoud Bey: An American Project is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Significant support is provided by the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
In New York, the exhibition is sponsored by
Generous support is provided by Judy Hart Angelo, the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation, and the Whitney’s National Committee.
Major support is provided by the Philip and Janice Levin Foundation.
Significant support is provided by The Anne Levy Charitable Trust and Jean L. Karotkin and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Additional support is provided by Susan and Arthur Fleischer, Gregory and Aline Gooding, Renee Harbers and Christopher Liddell, Marina and Andrew Lewin, Wynnell Schrenk, and Patricia Villareal and Tom Leatherbury.
Night Coming Tenderly, Black
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Bey’s most recent work imagines the flight of enslaved Black Americans along the leg of the Underground Railroad that operated in Ohio—the last fifty or so miles before they reached the vast expanse of Lake Erie, on the other side of which lay Canada, and freedom. As a covert network of safe houses and churches, the sites of the Underground Railroad were by necessity secret. Bey’s photographs suggest the experience of the journey and the landscapes and buildings that may have provided protection along the way. Night Coming Tenderly, Black (2017) marks the first time in his career that Bey turned completely to landscape photography, removing the presence of the figure entirely.
Nonetheless, the images imply the perspective of the individuals whose invisibility was requisite for their safety. Their large scale and rich black tones invite the viewer to engage their own body in the act of looking, taking time for their eyes to adjust and moving around to register the entirety of each image. The series pays homage to two Black American artists, the photographer Roy DeCarava and the poet Langston Hughes. DeCarava’s influence can be seen in the lush and protective darkness of the prints, while the project’s title is drawn from the final couplet of Hughes’s “Dream Variations”: “Night coming tenderly / Black like me.”
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Dawoud Bey, Untitled #1 (Picket Fence and Farmhouse), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017. Gelatin silver print, 48 × 55 in. (121.9 × 139.7 cm). Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey
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Dawoud Bey, Untitled #17 (Forest), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017. Gelatin silver print, 44 × 55 in. (111.8 × 139.7 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art; purchase, with funds from the Photography Committee in honor of Sondra Gilman 2020.29. © Dawoud Bey
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Dawoud Bey, Untitled #21 (Farmhouse and Picket Fence II), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017. Gelatin silver print, sheet: 48 × 59 in. (121.9 × 149.9 cm), image: 44 × 54 5/8 in. (111.8 × 138.7 cm), mount: 48 × 59 × 1/8 in. (121.9 × 149.9 × 0.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase, with funds from the Photography Committee, in honor of Sondra Gilman. © Dawoud Bey
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Dawoud Bey, Untitled #24 (At Lake Erie), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017. Gelatin silver print, 48 × 55 in. (121.9 × 139.7 cm). Rennie Collection, Vancouver. © Dawoud Bey
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Dawoud Bey, Untitled #25 (Lake Erie and Sky), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017. Gelatin silver print, 44 × 55 in. (111.8 × 139.7 cm). San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Accessions Committee Fund purchase. © Dawoud Bey
Events
View all-
Sun,
Oct 3
Weekend Member Mornings: Opening Week for
Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror10:30–11 am
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Sat,
Oct 2
Weekend Member Mornings: Opening Week for
Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror10:30–11 am
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Sat,
Sept 18
Whitney Signs Online: Dawoud Bey2–3 pm
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Tues,
Sept 14
Walter Annenberg Lecture:
Dawoud Bey6:30 pm
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Fri,
Aug 20
Verbal Description Online:
Dawoud Bey: An American Project10–11:30 am
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Thurs,
Aug 19
Art History from Home:
Dawoud Bey: An American Project12 pm
Audio guides
Dawoud Bey, Martina and Rhonda, Chicago, IL, 1993. Six dye diffusion transfer prints (Polaroid), 48 × 60 in. overall (121.9 × 152.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art; gift of Eric Ceputis and David W. Williams 2018.82a-f. © Dawoud Bey
Hear directly from the artist and curator on selected works from the exhibition.
This exhibition was installed on Floors 1 and 8.
Installation Photography
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). Mathis Menefee and Cassandra Griffin, from The Birmingham Project, 2012. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right, from The Birmingham Project: Braxton McKinney and Lavon Thomas, 2012; Betty Selvage and Faith Speights, 2012; Jean Shamburger and Kyrian McDaniel, 2012. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right: Fresh Coons and Wild Rabbits, Harlem, NY, 1975; A Boy in Front of the Loew’s 125th Street Movie Theater, Harlem, NY, 1976; A Woman and a Child in the Doorway, Harlem, NY, 1975; Clockwise, from top left: Four Children at Lenox Avenue, Harlem, NY, 1977; A Woman and Two Boys Passing, Harlem, NY, 1978; Deas McNeil, the Barber, Harlem, NY, 1976; A Woman Waiting in the Doorway, Harlem, NY, 1976; Two Girls at Lady D’s, Harlem, NY, c. 1976; A Young Boy from a Marching Band, Harlem, NY, 1977; Three Women at a Parade, Harlem, NY, 1978; A Man in a Bowler Hat, Harlem, NY, 1976. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right: Fresh Coons and Wild Rabbits, Harlem, NY, 1975; A Boy in Front of the Loew’s 125th Street Movie Theater, Harlem, NY, 1976; A Woman and a Child in the Doorway, Harlem, NY, 1975; Clockwise, from top left: Four Children at Lenox Avenue, Harlem, NY, 1977; A Woman and Two Boys Passing, Harlem, NY, 1978; Deas McNeil, the Barber, Harlem, NY, 1976; A Woman Waiting in the Doorway, Harlem, NY, 1976; Two Girls at Lady D’s, Harlem, NY, c. 1976; A Young Boy from a Marching Band, Harlem, NY, 1977; Three Women at a Parade, Harlem, NY, 1978; A Man in a Bowler Hat, Harlem, NY, 1976. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right: A Couple in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, 1990; A Woman at Fulton Street and Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 1988; A Man at Fulton Street and Cambridge Place, Brooklyn, NY, 1988; A Young Man Resting on an Exercise Bike, Amityville, NY, 1988; Max, Celia, Ramon, and Candida, New York, NY, 1992; Martina and Rhonda, Chicago, IL, 1993. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right: A Couple in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY, 1990; A Woman at Fulton Street and Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, 1988; Young Man at a Tent Revival, Brooklyn, NY, 1989; A Young Woman between Carrollsburg Place and Half Street, Washington, D.C., 1989; Earl, 1996; A Man at Fulton Street and Cambridge Place, Brooklyn, NY, 1988; A Young Man Resting on an Exercise Bike, Amityville, NY, 1988. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). Clockwise, from top left: Two Boys, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Young Man with a Bus Transfer, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Two Boys at a Syracuse Handball Court, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Car in Backyard, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Young Woman Waiting for the Bus, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Young Man at the Bus Stop, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Four Teenagers After Church Service, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Combing Hair, Syracuse, NY, 1986; Clothes Drying on the Line, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Woman and Three Children, Syracuse, NY, 1985. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right: Two Girls from a Marching Band, Harlem, NY, 1990; Omar, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, from Class Pictures, 2005; Untitled #17 (Forest), from Night Coming Tenderly, Black, 2017; A Girl with School Medals, Brooklyn, NY, 1988. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right: (clockwise, from top left) Two Boys, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Young Man with a Bus Transfer, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Two Boys at a Syracuse Handball Court, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Car in Backyard, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Young Woman Waiting for the Bus, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Young Man at the Bus Stop, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Four Teenagers After Church Service, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Combing Hair, Syracuse, NY, 1986; Clothes Drying on the Line, Syracuse, NY, 1985; A Woman and Three Children, Syracuse, NY, 1985; Kenosha II, 1996; Hilary and Taro, Chicago, IL, 1992; A Girl with School Medals, Brooklyn, NY, 1988; A Boy Eating a Foxy Pop, Brooklyn, NY, 1988; A Girl with a Knife Nosepin, Brooklyn, NY, 1990. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right, from Class Pictures: Kevin, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, 2005; Simone, Kenwood Academy, Chicago, IL, 2003; Danny, Fashion Industries High School, New York, NY, 2006. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Installation view of Dawoud Bey: An American Project (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 17-October 3, 2021). From left to right, from Class Pictures: Usha, Gateway High School, San Francisco, CA, 2006; Gerard, Edgewater High School, Orlando, FL, 2003; Sarah, University of Chicago Laboratory School, Chicago, IL, 2003. Photograph by Ron Amstutz
Exhibition Catalogue
Dawoud Bey (b. 1953) is an American photographer best known for his large-scale portraits of underrepresented subjects and for his commitment to fostering dialogue about contemporary social and political topics. Bey has also found inspiration in the past, and in two recent series, presented together here for the first time, he addresses African American history explicitly, with renderings both lyrical and immediate. In 2012 Bey created The Birmingham Project, a series of paired portraits memorializing the six children who were victims of the Ku Klux Klan’s bombing of Birmingham, Alabama’s 16th Street Baptist Church, a site of mass civil rights meetings, and the violent aftermath. Night Coming Tenderly, Black is a group of large-scale black-and-white landscapes made in 2017 in Ohio that reimagine sites where the Underground Railroad once operated. The book is introduced by an essay exploring the series’ place within Bey’s wider body of work, as well as their relationships to the past, the present, and each other. Additional essays investigate the works’ evocations of race, history, time, and place, addressing the particularities of and resonances between two series of photographs that powerfully reimagine the past into the present.
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In the News
"The retrospective . . . is a testament to [Bey's] photographs’ apparent timelessness."—W Magazine
"In his street photographs and portraits Bey achieves a rare degree of connection with his subjects."—Boston Globe
"Every image is a highlight of a prolific career that examines the various processes of photography as painstakingly as it explores and exposes the human condition."—Forbes
"American photographer Dawoud Bey displays his uncanny ability to get under the skin of his subjects."—The Guardian
"There’s a warmth that’s intrinsic to Bey’s acts of portrait-making."—The New Yorker
". . . Bey understands that the collective aches we feel today are the remnants of yesterday’s agony . . ."—New York Magazine