‘Roy DeCarava’s sublime photographs of Harlem life go on show at David Zwirner in London’ by Charlotte Jansen
2022
“Did you know babies can fly?” Sherry Turner DeCarava says with a smile.
The art historian and widow of Roy DeCarava—who died in 2009, aged 89—refers to a meditative image, one of 66 currently on display at David Zwirner’s London gallery (until 19 February). It is the first exhibition dedicated to the artist in London in over three decades.
In the picture, Bill and son (1962), a man’s hands grip the body of a newborn, dressed in a fluffy romper. The gesture seems to be both a warm proclamation of life and the beginning of a battle between parent and child. Like many of DeCarava’s works, it is both universal and immensely personal—presenting, as the artist once said, “a moment so profoundly that it becomes an eternity”.
Read more at the Art Newspaper.