Research Catalog

Title

[Photographs of prominent African Americans] / Ethel Pries.

Author

Pries, Ethel

Publication

[between 1940 and 1949?]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

• 12 items (.2 cubic ft., one box); 34 x 26 cm (prints), 51 x 41 cm (mounts)
• 11 photographic prints : gelatin silver, black and white, mounted ;
• 1 photographic print : gelatin silver, black and white, matted ;

Summary

Studio portraits of prominent African Americans from the 1940s, taken as head and shoulder portraits, consisting of sculptor Richmond Barthe, educator and civil rights leader Mary McLeod Bethune, conductor Dean Dixon, civic and social leader Lester Granger, Episcopal minister Rev. John H. Johnson, actors Canada Lee and Leigh Whipper, National Urban League official Guichard Parris, labor leader A. Philip Randolph, and civil rights activists Channing Tobias and Walter White. There are two separate portraits of Canada Lee.

Subjects

• Gelatin silver prints > 1940-1949
• Portrait photographs > 1940-1949
• African American conductors (Music)
• African American sculptors
• African American clergy
• African American actors
• African American civic leaders
• Civil rights leaders > United States
• African American civil rights workers

Genre/Form

• Portrait photographs – 1940-1949.
• Gelatin silver prints – 1940-1949.

Note

• Title devised by cataloger.
• Most photographs bear photographer's signature on mount recto; many items also include photographer's signature on print recto. Many items bear photographer's handwritten caption on mount recto. Most items bear handwritten file number on verso. Many items bear hand stamp of North Manhattan Project of the New York Public Library on verso.
• Some print mounts show wear on edges or corners; some mount corners are missing; one mount is cracked along sides; many mounts have indentation marks on recto

Terms of Use (note)

• Collection may be under copyright; permission of the copyright holder is required for duplication.

Biography (note)

• Ethel Pries was a British-born photographer who studied photography at the Heider Studio in Berlin, Germany. There she met her husband, Karl Pries, a wirter, who later died in 1928. Pies and her daughter moved to New York in 1930, where she initially taught handicrafts while developing her skills as a photographer. By the mid-1930s, Pries became a portrait photographer and opened a studio on West 57th Street. During the 1930s through 1950s, she had established an international reputation as a notable photographer of royalty, civic leaders, and visual and performance artists. By the 1940s she had also opened a studio in Paris to spread her clientele base.

Call Number

Sc Photo Portfolio (Pries, E.)

OCLC

1281720815

Author

Pries, Ethel, photographer.

Title

[Photographs of prominent African Americans] / Ethel Pries.

Production

[between 1940 and 1949?]

Type of Content

still image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Terms Of Use

Collection may be under copyright; permission of the copyright holder is required for duplication.

Biography

Ethel Pries was a British-born photographer who studied photography at the Heider Studio in Berlin, Germany. There she met her husband, Karl Pries, a wirter, who later died in 1928. Pies and her daughter moved to New York in 1930, where she initially taught handicrafts while developing her skills as a photographer. By the mid-1930s, Pries became a portrait photographer and opened a studio on West 57th Street. During the 1930s through 1950s, she had established an international reputation as a notable photographer of royalty, civic leaders, and visual and performance artists. By the 1940s she had also opened a studio in Paris to spread her clientele base.

Connect to:

Request Appointment

Research Call Number

Sc Photo Portfolio (Pries, E.)