Text from the Rijksmuseum: “Boy playing drums Louis Draper (1935-2022)
Gelatine silver print, 1959-1960
In the 50s and 60s, there were hardly any training opportunities for photographers of color. Louis Draper got a camera from his father, who was an amateur photographer. He started photographing for the school newspaper at his college in Petersburg, Virginia. He then did an apprenticeship with W. Eugene Smith, whose high-contrasting, dramatic prints in distinct black-and-white he admired so much. He then founded Kamoinge with others, an important artists’ group of young black photographers.”