The Resume

(December 9, 1919-October 27, 2009)
Born in Harlem, New York
Opened 'A Photographer's Gallery' in New York City (1955)
Professor of Art at Hunter College
Winner, National Medal of Arts (2006)

Why he might be annoying:

He wore a comb-over hairstyle.
He left a career in commercial illustration to take photos.
He quit working for Sports Illustrated, feeling constrained.
He snapped pictures of jazz musicians in dark, smoky nightclubs, sometimes making the figures hard to discern.

Why he might not be annoying:

His parents split up when he was an infant, leaving him to be raised by a hard-working single mom.
His mentor was legendary photographer Edward Steichen.
He won the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1952, becoming the first black shutterbug to do so.
In 1955 he collaborated with Langston Hughes, another of his idols, for 'The Sweet Flypaper of Life,' a study of life in Harlem.
His main reason for presenting his subjects with integrity was, 'there were no black images of dignity, no images of beautiful black people. There was this big hole. I tried to fill it.'

Credit: Black Chic

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• BC/Black Chic's Profiles [Series 10]
• Brothers and Sisters, I Have None
• Guggenheim Fellowship Grant Recipients
• I Died in 2009 (Ranked: 89)
• I Married Outside My Race
• Photographers
• Profiles 27251-27500 (Ranked: 27301)
• Teachers

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 15 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 27 Votes: 51.85% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 94 Votes: 46.81% Annoying