DeCarava, Roy. Roy DeCarava. The Nation's Capital in Photographs, 1976. February 14 - May 9, 1976.

Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1976. Wraps, 24 pages, 16 illustrations. [Includes biographical information and a portrait of the renowned African American photographer. The Nation’s Capital series included Lee Friedlander, John Gossage, Anthony Hernandez, Roy DeCarava, Lewis Baltz, Jan Groover, Robert Cumming, and Joe Cameron.] Near fine with traces of crimps, scarce, especially in this condition. Summary:

Roy DeCarava: The Nation's Capital in Photographs, 1976 (exhibited February 14–May 9, 1976) is an exhibition catalog published by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The publication documents DeCarava's contribution to the Corcoran's major Bicentennial project, which commissioned eight prominent American photographers—including Lee Friedlander, Lewis Baltz, and Jan Groover—to spend extended periods visually exploring the nation's capital.

Key Contents & Features

• Bicentennial Commission: The publication features a selection of black-and-white images created by DeCarava during 1975–1976, offering an intimate alternative to traditional, monument-centric portrayals of Washington, D.C.

• Focus on People and Urban Texture: DeCarava centered his vision on everyday residents, street life, storefronts, and civil rights events, capturing the human dimension and social character of the city rather than its grand federal architecture.

• Curator Interview: The catalog includes an insightful interview with DeCarava conducted by Corcoran curators Jane Livingston and Frances Fralin, along with a preface by gallery director Roy Slade, detailing DeCarava's artistic philosophy, working methods, and dark-toned printing aesthetic.

• Exhibition Record: Printed in a staple-bound 8x8-inch format, the catalog features 14 black-and-white plates alongside a complete exhibition checklist, biographical chronology, and selected bibliography.

• Roy DeCarava (1919–2009) was an influential American photographer and educator whose work redefined the visual narrative of Harlem and urban Black culture. Born and raised in Harlem, New York, DeCarava initially studied painting, printmaking, and drawing at the Cooper Union and the Harlem Community Art Center before adopting photography as his primary medium in the late 1940s. In 1952, he became the first African American photographer to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which supported the work that led to his seminal 1955 collaborative book with poet Langston Hughes, The Sweet Flypaper of Life. Beyond his own photographic output, DeCarava was a tireless advocate for photography as a fine art and for equal access in the art world; he founded A Gallery for Advertising in 1955—one of the first galleries devoted exclusively to photography—and helped to establish the Kamoinge Workshop in 1963 to support Black photographers. A longtime professor of art at Hunter College, DeCarava received the National Medal of Arts in 2006, leaving behind a legacy celebrated for its masterly control of light and shadow, emotional depth, and poetic humanism.