Cynthia Akins and Los Angeles Rams, c.1965

by Lamonte McLemore-Exhibition 

Michael Jackson at Manual Arts High School

by Howard Bingham / Promised Gift of Irene Furtik-Exhibition 

California African American museum celebrates work of seven Black Los Angeles photographers 

The California African American Museum (CAAM) celebrates the life and artistic output of seven African American photographers in its latest photo exhibition Light Catchers, an exhibition, which will be on view at CAAM through June 7, 2015.

Originally curated in 1997 by photographer Irene Fertik and funded by a grant from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the exhibition includes 35 prints that will be added to CAAM’s permanent collection, donated by Fertik.

“This is a unique opportunity for CAAM to share with our patrons a remarkable group of photographs that include some of the most relevant icons of the 20th century,” said CAAM’s Visual Arts Curator Mar Hollingsworth. “I am thrilled with Fertik’s donation.” Included in the 35 prints Fertik donated, are seven portraits she captured of the photographers in 1997.

The prints in the exhibition were captured by seven African American photographers who emerged during the 1940s, despite the repressions designed to keep blacks from equal opportunities. Photographers include Howard Bingham, Don Cropper, Jack Davis, Bob Douglas, Cliff Hall, Lamonte McLemore, and Murphy Ruffins who are known for their diverse array of talents and skills in photography, artwork, production, and publishing. Some of the photographers work has been published in African American and general market LA-based newspapers, in which some are still relevant and active today.

“My passion, heart and soul has been to document the Black experience in the most celebratory and positive way,” says Fertik. The photographers captured vivid moments in a time of well-known faces including a heartbroken Natalie Cole during her father Nat King Cole’s funeral; an enthusiastic Michael Jackson, with his siblings Janet and Randy Jackson; in a rare display, the legendary Muhammad Ali flaunting money as he sits on $1 million in a bank’s cash vault; and Ali in a sports car with a very young Bill Cosby.

Current Exhibitions in the CAAM Galleries

CAAM Courtyard Series: From Women’s Hands, ongoing through May 3, 2015 FlashTag, Opening March 26 through August 2, 2015

Lookin’ Back in Front of Me: Selected Works of Mark Steven Greenfield, 1974-2014 ongoing through July 5, 2015

The African American Journey West (Permanent Collection) Ongoing

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