The Carnegie Museum of Art recently opened a much-awaited exhibit: Teenie Harris, Photographer: An American Story. Though the exhibit will be open until April 7, 2012, the show is worth several trips. The exhibit features 987 images selected from nearly 80,000 photographic negatives. This is a wonderful exhibit to attend if you are unfamiliar with Pittsburgh’s history. It has been argued that Teenie Harris’s body of work (1938-1975), shot mostly in the Hill District, is one of the largest archives of photographic documentation of a minority community in the United States.
Stanley Crouch, infamous jazz, music, and art critic, reflects, “This collection provides us with an epic sense of life, which is to say that a civilization and how it worked is laid out before us.”
The exhibit consists of three galleries: gallery A, B, and C. In gallery A there are seven changing and simultaneous slide shows, titled: “At Home,” “Cross Roads,” “Style, Rise and Fall of the Crawford Grill,” “Urban Landscapes,” “Gatherings, Words and Signs.” The seven projected pictures appear life-size. The dimly lit room makes you feel as if you are watching a movie rather than slideshows.
The comprehensive and thought provoking slideshow is set to MCG Jazz’s composition of tracks that not only enhance the photos but also demonstrate the “evolving Pittsburgh sound from the 30s to the 70s.” The collection also features famous people like Duke Ellington, Ann Baker, Paul Robeson, JFK and Muhammad Ali. The collection also documents blue-collar and poverty-stricken life: a man sleeps in his car, children dance beneath a sprinkler, a man jackhammers a construction site, a strike, a snowball fight, a football game, baby pictures, wedding pictures.
The pictures viewed during the slide show can also be seen in Gallery B, where they are arranged in chronological order around the room. For a more complete story, certain images prompt museumgoers to call a number to gain additional information about the piece. This modernized walking tour is thoroughly engaging, while also being educational.
In Gallery C, you can sit and watch a different slide show, and hear Teenie’s family, friends and colleagues discuss his life and his work.
Overall the exhibit is extremely entertaining and can provide a nice break from campus—the Carnegie Museum of Art is only a block away, located on the left hand side of Forbes Avenue, right past Craig Street. Even if you only have an hour to spare, the Carnegie Museum of Art grants free entry for CMU students, and the exhibit is a great way to get off campus without traveling too far.