Text and Event Photography Julian Lucas
It was a night filled with joy as family members and friends gathered at Fahey Klein Gallery to celebrate the lifelong works of the late great photographer Ernest C. Withers. And if you weren’t a part of the family, you were still welcomed with open arms to celebrate and enjoy the beautiful images alongside the family. For me, it brought back that sense of southern hospitality, being originally from Chicago, and, of course, my family being participants of the Great Migration to the north.
Withers not only captured the late 1940s and early 1960s Southern civil rights movement in a way that is relevant today, but he also recorded day-to-day life in the South during this critical era including all those Memphians who introduced Soul, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Blues to popular music. From the blues to baseball to football games and funerals and marches, and everyday and momentous events, Withers was there with his camera. Beale Street's juke clubs and journalistic assignments gave him the confidence and skills to record history as it occurred. It took courage for him to ‘take the shot’ in spite of intimidation by police and other formidable forces during the civil rights era.
“Photography is a collection of memories. One who is trained in photography knows that. Instinctively, people who have an occupation know what they ought to do. You call the fireman to put out the fire; you call the police to solve a police problem; and people who are news people and journalists are collectors and recorders of present evidence, which after a given length of time—days, months, years becomes history.” Ernest C. Withers
Dr. Ernest C. Withers, Sr. (1922 – 2007) a native Memphian, is an internationally acclaimed photojournalist. His photographs have been published extensively in the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Life, Jet, and Ebony. His well-known images comprise an unequaled time capsule of the heartland of Mid-Century America. Withers’s images are in the permanent collection of The Smithsonian and other esteemed institutions.
Fahey Klein Gallery
Ernest C. Withers
I’ll Take You There
June 24 – September 4, 2021
THE FAHEY/KLEIN GALLERY IS LOCATED AT:
148 North La Brea, between 1st Street and Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, CA 90036
Open to all visitors. Appointments are optional.
Hours: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Tuesday through Saturday
Phone: (323) 934-2250
Fax: (323) 934-4243
Email: contact@faheykleingallery.com
Julian Lucas, is fine art photographer, photojournalist, and creative strategist. Julian also works as a housing specialist which, includes linking homeless veterans to housing. Julian has lived in Chicago, Inglewood, Portland, and the suburbs of Los Angeles County including Pomona.
