Pictured: Couple Dancing, New York, from the portfolio Twelve Photogravures,1956, printed 1991 Photogravure. Courtesy of Courtesy of Estate of Roy DeCarava Estate of Roy DeCarava.

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art (The Ringling) announces Enduring Light: Photographs by Roy DeCarava and Danny Lyon from the Sandor Family Collectionwill be on view from September 21, 2024 through February 9, 2025, in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing. The exhibition showcases works from two significant portfolios: Twelve Photogravures by Roy DeCarava and Memories of the Southern Civil Rights Movement by Danny Lyon. These bodies of work by two of America’s most consequential photographers offer distinct but complementary expressions of Black life and the struggle for civil rights in the US. Through their respective lenses, both DeCarava and Lyon elevate and communicate the beauty, complexities, and unique perspectives of Black life, and the struggle for equality. Capturing the raw and vulnerable realities of the movement was a central struggle for both artists. Their work aimed to reclaim the narrative of Black life, presenting its complexities and richness with authenticity. Roy DeCarava, a renowned Black artist, captured important African American subjects. His career began with photographing everyday life in the streets of Harlem in the 1950s. Works from his 12 Photogravures portfolio showcase photographs spanning between 1950 and 1979. DeCarava’s images generally work to uplift and communicate the beauty, nuance, and complexity of Black life through his unique, personal style. The Photogravures portfolio on view includes portraits of important Black figures such as singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson and a portrait of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday. Danny Lyon is one of America’s most influential documentary photographers. He helped revolutionize the culture of media news reporting as part of the “new journalism” of the 1960s that was passionate, subjective, and immersed within its chosen subject matter. In his last years at the University of Chicago, Lyon became staff photographer of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). This exhibition includes 28 gelatin silver prints Lyon took between 1962 and 1964 for SNCC. It was a crucial moment in the Civil Rights movement and these photographs documented SNCC activities, primarily in the South, helping to give this youth-based civil rights group visibility. They also include images of pivotal organizers such as John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. The exhibition is co-curated by Christopher Jones; Jevon Brown, The Ringling’s inaugural Eleanor Merritt Fellow and an artist; and Natalia Benavides, The Ringling’s 2024 Coville Photography Curatorial Intern and a senior at New College of Florida. Enduring Light: Photographs by Roy DeCarava and Danny Lyon from the Sandor Family Collectionwill be on view from Saturday, September 21, 2024, through February 9, 2025, in the A and B Galleries of the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing of the Museum of Art.

Pictured: Couple Dancing, New York, from the portfolio Twelve Photogravures,1956, printed 1991 Photogravure. Courtesy of Courtesy of Estate of Roy DeCarava Estate of Roy DeCarava.