The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art (The Ringling) announces Enduring light: photographs by Roy DeCarava and Danny Lyon from the Sandor Family Collection will 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.

“Both photographers left a legacy through their work, not only contributing to the fight for Black lives during the civil rights era, but they also enriched American visual culture and inspired generations of artists through their images”, says Christopher Jones Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Arts at The Ringling.

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.

Of co-curating the exhibition, Benavides notes that the "extent and depth of research required in curating … is not just about the art, but also about the historical, cultural, and social contexts”. For her work on the exhibition, Benavides learned more about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the civil rights activist group of the 1960s documented in Danny Lyon’s photographs. “Discovering more about the biographies of SNCC members and their grassroots approach to organizing was inspiring”, she says.

Brown notes that the “experience revealed the critical role curators play in shaping museum content. They act as the voice behind exhibitions, a voice that guides visitors through the intended message”. He adds that Roy DeCarava “was not just a photographer; he was a poetic weaver of visual stories”. Comparing Lyon and DeCarava, Brown is impressed that both left a legacy through their work, not only contributing to the fight for Black lives during the civil rights era, but also enriched American visual culture through their images.

Enduring light: photographs by Roy DeCarava and Danny Lyon from the Sandor Family Collection will 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.