Asphalt Workers

1975

Roy DeCarava

Associated Names
Roy DeCarava

Artist, American, 1919 - 2009

This is a photograph of a street construction scene. The image shows a group of workers engaged in roadwork. One worker operates machinery from an elevated seat, while others are working with shovels, digging and moving materials. A non-worker figure is standing nearby. A storefront with large windows and a mesh screen is in the background. The grayscale tone of the photograph emphasizes the contrast between the hustle of the workers and the stillness of the surrounding structures.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase)

  • Dimensions

    image: 23.75 × 32.7 cm (9 3/8 × 12 7/8 in.)
    sheet: 27.94 × 35.24 cm (11 × 13 7/8 in.)
    mount: 40.32 × 50.48 cm (15 7/8 × 19 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2015.19.4146

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Roy DeCarava, Brooklyn, NY; purchased by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (through the Witkin Gallery, Inc., New York), 1976; acquired by NGA, 2015.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1976

  • The Nation’s Capital in Photographs, 1976: Robert Cumming and Roy DeCarava, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 14 – May 9, 1976

1981

  • Of Time and Place: American Figurative Art from the Corcoran Gallery, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH; San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA; University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY; Hunter Museum of Art, Chattanooga, TN; Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL (travelled through May 1983, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service)

2003

  • Black is a Color: African American Art at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, February 1 – April 7, 2003

Bibliography

1981

  • Nygren, Edward J. Of Time and Place: American Figurative Art from the Corcoran Gallery. Exh. cat. Washington D.C., 1981: 166-167, cat. 70.

2008

  • Malet, Rosa Maria et al. Modernitat Americana: Obres de la Corcoran Gallery of Art. Exh. cat. Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona, 2008: 104-105, 168.

Inscriptions

signed by artist, lower left below image in graphite: DeCARAVA; bottom left of mount, typed in black ink on white label: CO758[handwritten in black ink: 7] #7 / Asphalt workers; by Corcoran Gallery of Art, bottom right in graphite: 1976.37.3 / DE CARAVA, Roy; on verso of mount, by unknown hand, vertical along center left edge in graphite: #70; bottom left: DeCarava; by Corcoran Gallery of Art, bottom right: 1976.37.3

Wikidata ID

Q64170109

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