Charles "Teenie" Harris didn't need to wander far during his life as a photographer. His hometown of Pittsburgh supplied enough images to sustain a career. For more than four decades, Harris was one of the principal photographers for the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation's pre-eminent black newspapers.
"[Teenie] has been known and loved in Pittsburgh ever since the 1930s, but his reputation outside the city is just beginning to spread," says Lulu Lippincott, curator of a new exhibition of Teenie Harris' photos at the Carnegie Museum of Art.
- Hide caption Two young women eat caramel apples, circa 1940-1945. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Duke Ellington at piano, with dancer Honey Coles and Billy Strayhorn looking on, in the Stanley Theatre, circa 1942-1943. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Children visit a printing shop, possibly at the Pittsburgh Courier, circa 1945-1949. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Two young men and a young woman play horseshoes at Dr. Alma Illery's "Camp Achievemment," Fayette County, Pa., circa 1941. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Lena Horne is reflected in a mirror in her dressing room at Stanley Theatre, circa 1944. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Men, including T. Hamilton, Len Holland, James Hughes and Thomas Williams, stand behind women seated on swings at Highland Park picnic, August 1952. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Four Pittsburgh Crawfords baseball players, Peatross, Johnson, Daniels, and Atkins, stand on field, May 1945. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Frank Bolden at left and Sarah Vaughan at right, with another woman and man at piano, circa 1950. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Singer Carol Thompson, poses with newsboys at the edge of Sully Pool in South Park during Pittsburgh Courier newsboys' annual picnic, August 1961. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Boxers, possibly Golden Gloves contenders, line up in a boxing ring, circa 1955. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption A woman models a hairstyle in Harris Studio, circa 1938-1945. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Boxer Harry Bobo, 1941. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption A man and woman hold hands with small child on the sidewalk, circa 1940-1946. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption A woman, possibly Barbara Jones, poses with a car on Mulford Street, Homewood, circa 1937. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Two girls with former slave Sabre "Mother" Washington, circa 1950-1955. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption A woman stands outside Kay's Valet Shoppe, circa 1938-1945. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption A little girl reads a comic book at a newsstand, circa 1940-1945. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Roland M. Sawyer and Aileen Eckstein Sawyer pose on their wedding day on steps of The Thimble Shop in Highland Park, August 1938. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Soldiers from the 372nd Infantry march in a parade down Fifth Avenue, July 1942. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption A woman sits on a car, with a steel mill in the background, circa 1940-1946. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
- Hide caption Self-portrait of Charles "Teenie" Harris in Harris Studio, circa 1940. Previous Next Charles "Teenie" Harris/Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Beginning in the 1930s, his work in Pittsburgh's storied Hill District produced a rich portrait of the African-American experience rarely displayed in Harris' contemporary American media. It's a portrait that shows both the joys and struggles of mid-20th-century urban life.
Photos of men drinking in bars and children crowding around a summer swimming pool appear alongside scenes of civil rights protests and union-backed demonstrations.
"[Teenie] conveys in a way that I've never experienced before in photographs, the immediate experience of being in a different place, a different time," says Lippincott.
His work may be understood as a celebration of the working class, but Harris didn't shy away from opportunities to show life on the other side of the tracks. His portfolio is dotted with the occasional image of some of the biggest names of the era, including Louis Armstrong, Muhammad Ali and John F. Kennedy.
"He was a studio photographer, photojournalist and advertising photographer who helped preserve African-American culture from family life to social life," Deborah Willis, a photography professor at New York University, writes in the exhibition's companion book.
One of Harris' best-loved photos shows a young boy, perhaps 7 or 8, slumped in the corner of a boxing ring, his hands weighed down by a pair of oversized gloves. The boy gazes into the camera and appears to smile as a single tear trickles down his cheek. It's a perfect distillation of Harris' catalog, where life's joyful moments are shaded — but never eclipsed — by the shadow of conflict.
The exhibition is scheduled to make stops in Chicago, Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala.
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