First published 2019
Deborah Willis presents the first comprehensive study of photographer Kwame Brathwaite, who wielded his camera to advance the "Black Is Beautiful" movement during the late 1950s and 1960s. Willis traces how Marcus Garvey's black nationalist writings shaped Brathwaite's vision, leading him to collaborate with his brother Elombe Brath in establishing two influential organizations. The African Jazz Arts Society and Studios brought together artists, playwrights, designers, and dancers as a creative collective. The Grandassa Models, launched in 1962, assembled black women to directly confront prevailing white beauty standards through modeling. Willis examines Brathwaite's dual photographic practice, from his elegant studio portraits of the Grandassa Models to his intimate documentation of Harlem's vibrant artistic scene, capturing figures like Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, and Miles Davis. The book reveals how this under-recognized photographer became a central figure in the second Harlem Renaissance, using his lens to reshape cultural perceptions of black beauty and identity.
Genres: biography, history, art, 20th-century, african-american, non-fiction, 21st-century, photography
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction, non-fiction
Setting: Africa, Harlem
Period: 1950s, 1960s
144 pages · Hardcover · Aperture