Gumberg Library Features the Work of Pittsburgh Photographer ‘Teenie’ Harris

A new exhibit in Gumberg Library features the work of famed Pittsburgh photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris.

Pittsburgh Photographer: Charles “Teenie” Harris will be on display Monday, Jan. 27, through Friday, Feb. 28 in the Popular Reading Room on the fourth floor of Gumberg Library.

Harris (1908-1998) grew up in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, where his family owned a hotel. He bought his first camera and opened a photography studio that specialized in glamour shots in the 1930s, earning the nickname “One Shot” for capturing his subjects in one take.

Freelancing for the Pittsburgh Courier, a leading African-American newspaper, Harris chronicled life in black neighborhoods. In addition to photos of celebrities such as Duke Ellington, Lena Horne and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Harris’ images of daily life in the city are some of his best-known works.

He captured a thriving black culture in the late Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras, from protests to weddings to sporting events. His collection is considered one of the largest photographic documentations of the African-American community in the United States.

Charlene Foggie-Barnett, the Teenie Harris Archive Specialist at the Carnegie Museum of Art, will present on the life and work of Teenie Harris on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 3:30 p.m. in the Popular Reading Room. Foggie-Barnett knew Harris as a girl and young adult and was photographed by him many times.

The Carnegie Museum of Art has held a number of exhibits dedicated to Harris’ work and is home to the Teenie Harris Archive, which consists of over 70,000 of Harris’ negatives. An exhibition of Harris’ work, In Sharp Focus: Charles “Teenie” Harris, is currently on display at the museum.

For more information, call Gumberg Library at 412.396.6130.