Exhibition dates: 5th October, 2024 – 16th February, 2025
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Vintage gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist, Courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery
“A good image is created by a state of grace. Grace expresses itself when it has been freed from conventions, free like a child in his early discovery of reality. The game is then to organise the rectangle.”
Chilean photographer Sergio Larraín Echeñique
figure ground
I have written previously on the excellent work of the Chinese-American photographer Baldwin Lee in his eponymously named exhibition at Joseph Bellows Gallery in 2022. Since then I have spent further time with his photographs, specifically during recent research for my posting on the exhibition A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (October 2024 – January 2025) and then again for this posting.
There are more photographs in this posting from Lee’s journey of discovery through the American South in the 1980s photographing Black communities with this 4 x 5 view camera, a journey that was as much a revelation for the people of those communities (literally, shining a light on their existence) as it was for the photographer himself (a self-reflective understanding of what was important to the photographer, discovering his subject).
“The process I adopted in successive road trips during my seven-year project involved splitting time between revisiting places I had previously photographed and seeking out new locations. The families who lived on this street in Rosedale, Mississippi, knew me from prior visits. Children were always thrilled at my arrival, and they delighted in taking turns shrouding their heads under my black focusing cloth that allowed them to peer at the dim image projected on the ground glass of my view camera.” (Text from the Guardian website)
This is what is so important about Baldwin Lee’s photographs. He grounds the figures in his photographs in the glass of his large format camera (standing proud) even as he grounds his figures in the history and culture of the American South, its Black history, its joy and impoverishment. As he himself says, his photographs are “personal stories about events that are momentous”, events in the lives of the participants inflected by how the photographer approaches his subject matter, how he interacts with what is in front of him, influenced by his own history of growing up a Chinese-American and by what he had already thought and felt about the subject, the American South.
Lee’s pictorial compositions, his “photographic seeing” (John Szarkowski’s phrase) is concerned with a felt response to a visual problem… how to conceive a cogent, empathetic picture structure both choreographically and visually. Adapting Szarkowski we could say that in Lee’s photographs the relationship of figure to figure is as centrally important as the relationship of figure to ground and frame.
Here is compassion, here is empathy, here is focus, stillness, culture, humanity. Here is a “state of grace” existing between the mind and feelings of the photographer and the organisation of the people and stories within the image… so much so that there is often a “revelation of spirit” in the subsequent prints by Lee (after Minor White, one of Baldwin Lee’s teachers).
Thus, Lee’s photographs show an impeccable “balance” in the image between figure and ground (touching the earth) – whether that be compositionally, emotionally or historically.
Dr Marcus Bunyan
Many thankx to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Natchez, Mississippi
1984
Vintage gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Joseph Bellows Gallery
Is there an image of yours that stands out or is a favourite?
“As I rounded a corner several miles north of Natchez, Mississippi, a stunning sight – a brilliant pink stucco house framed by a blooming wisteria arbor caused me to pull over. I was compelled to knock on the door and found myself and Mr. and Mrs. Fulton, an elderly black couple standing in the cramped dimly lit kitchen whose illumination came from a bare-bulb hanging from the ceiling. Pushed up against a tattered refrigerator was a Formica table upon which provided a foundation for structure made of Kellog Cornflakes boxes. Each box bore a photograph of a beaming face. Boneheadedly I asked Mrs. Fulton if she liked cornflakes. With her gaze lowered she replied no. She then told me she disliked taking meals by herself now that her children had grown and gone.”
Anonymous. “Baldwin Lee,” on the PhotoWork Foundation website Nd [Online] Cited 06/01/2025
Curated Conversation with Baldwin Lee
On Saturday, October 5, Ogden Museum of Southern Art celebrated the opening of “Baldwin Lee” with a free Curated Conversation.
Taking place in the Museum’s historic Patrick F. Taylor Library, Prospect New Orleans’ Director of Curatorial Affairs, Andrew Rebatta, and photographer Baldwin Lee engaged in a lively conversation celebrating “Baldwin Lee,” a landmark solo exhibition at Ogden Museum of Southern Art highlighting Lee’s work.
Lee shared stories from his 5 decade career as a student, educator and practicing artist. Topics of discussion include Lee’s formal education with Minor White and Walker Evans (two of the 20th centuries’ most influential photographers) and his 1980s journey of self-discovery photographing the American South – which resulted in making nearly 10,000 photographs and producing one of the most important visual documents of and about the American South in the past half century.
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Columbia, South Carolina
1984
Vintage gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist, Courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery
‘Dusty streets and bare feet coexist alongside the South Carolina Statehouse on Gervais Street. A short focal length lens emphasised the difference in scale between the foreground and background figures. An archaic flash bulb, a sealed glass orb containing spun magnesium and pure oxygen, ignited during the exposure illuminating the children closest to the camera. It was positioned higher than the camera and to its right’
Text from The Guardian website
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Montgomery, Alabama
1984
Vintage gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Joseph Bellows Gallery
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Monroe, Louisiana
1984
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Monroe, Louisiana
1983
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Montgomery, Alabama
1984
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
‘Southerners savour the sweetness and solace that comes at the end of searingly hot summer days at twilight. The quiet ushers in a deep peace. The other side of tranquility and beauty is ominousness and menace. The viewers of this photograph are invited to interpret its meaning. If there is an inclination toward wholeness this is a scene of contentment. Southerners approach this image with caution. Black southerners would probably not gather so publicly for fear of retributive reactions. White southerners probably have their own reasons to meet’
Text from The Guardian website
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Vicksburg, Mississippi
1983
Gelatin silver print
20 x 16 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Manhattan’s Chinatown. He studied photography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) with photographer Minor White. Later, he would receive an MFA from Yale School of Art, where he studied with photographer Walker Evans. In 1982, Lee became the first Director of Photography within the Art department at the University of Tennessee. The following year, he set out from Knoxville with a 4 x 5 view camera on a journey of self-discovery photographing his adopted homeland – the American South.
Lee’s artistic goal was to partially re-trace and re-photograph the 1930s-40s routes made across the South by his mentor Walker Evans. Unlike Evans’ iconic depression-era photographs, Lee would eventually focus on documenting Black Americans, many of whom were living in poverty on the fringes of society. Over the next seven years, Lee traveled thousands of miles crisscrossing the South, making nearly 10,000 photographs – producing one of the most important visual documents of and about the American South in the past half century.
With this work, Lee had found his primary subject, and credits his many years of working within Black communities throughout the South as having a “political” effect on his life and art. The compassion Lee felt for those he photographed resonates within his work. Although, Lee’s 1980s photographs were known and respected by his fellow photographers and collectors, until recently this work has remained largely unknown and under-appreciated by a wider public.
In the fall of 2022, Hunter’s Point Press published “Baldwin Lee,” a book consisting of the artist’s 1980s Southern photographs. The book has since become an instant classic and was shortlisted as one of the best photo books of 2022 by “Aperture Magazine,” “TIME” and the International Center for Photography. The first edition of “Baldwin Lee” sold out in less than a month and is presently on its third edition of publication. The book’s success led to solo exhibitions at Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York City, Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla, California and David Hill Gallery, London, England. After nearly 40 years, Baldwin Lee is finally being recognized for his groundbreaking work.
The exhibition Baldwin Lee will feature a selection of over 50 gelatin silver prints culled from thousands of images Lee made across the South in the 1980s. Many of these photographs will be exhibited for the first time. The exhibition will include compelling portraits of Black Americans, as well as a collection of landscape, cityscape and still-life images that visually encapsulate the Reagan-era American South.
Text from the Ogden Museum of Southern Art website
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Lakeland, Florida
1984
Vintage gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Howard Greenberg Gallery
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Richmond, Virginia
1986
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Vicksburg, Mississippi
1984
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches, Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Waterproof, LA
1986
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Lula, Mississippi
1984
Vintage gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Courtesy of Joseph Bellows Gallery
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Nashville, Tennessee
1983
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Plain Dealing, Louisiana
1984
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Mobile, Alabama
1985
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Defuniak Springs, Florida
1984
Gelatin Silver Print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the Artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Rosedale, Mississippi
1984
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches
Collection of the artist
‘The process I adopted in successive road trips during my seven-year project involved splitting time between revisiting places I had previously photographed and seeking out new locations. The families who lived on this street in Rosedale, Mississippi, knew me from prior visits. Children were always thrilled at my arrival, and they delighted in taking turns shrouding their heads under my black focusing cloth that allowed them to peer at the dim image projected on the ground glass of my view camera. They were more than eager to arrange themselves for this photograph’
Text from The Guardian website
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Valdosta, Georgia
1985
Archival pigment print
40 x 50 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Chattanooga, Tennessee
1983
Vintage gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Untitled
1983-1989
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Collection of the artist
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Rosedale, Mississippi
1985
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Museum Purchase with Funds Provided by The Charles D. Urstadt Chairman Emeritus Acquisition Fund
Baldwin Lee (Chinese-American, b. 1951)
Walls, Mississippi
1984
Gelatin silver print
16 x 20 inches
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
925 Camp Street, New Orleans, LA
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