art and poetry journal · 2022

Adger Cowans

White Umbrella, 1971, gelatin silver print, signed on verso, 11 x 14 in., Edition of 5 + 2 AP.
Courtesy of the artist and Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.
Three Shadows, 1966, gelatin silver print, signed on verso, 16 x 24 in., Edition of 5 + 2 AP.
Courtesy of the artist and Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.
Footsteps, 1961, gelatin silver print, signed on verso, 16 x 24 in., Edition of 5 + 2 AP.
Courtesy of the artist and Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York.

Adger Cowans (b. 1936) is a celebrated photographer whose wide-ranging subjects include the civil rights movement, jazz musicians, and artistic studies of nature. He is also a founder and is currently president of the Kamoinge workshop, a Black photographers collective whose mission is to ‘Honor, document, preserve and represent the history and culture of the African Diaspora ... through the lens of Black Photographers.' He earned his degree in photography from Ohio University and then studied at the School of Motion Picture Arts and the School of Visual Arts in NYC. After graduating he assisted photographer Gordon Parks at LIFE Magazine. As the film still photographer on over thirty Hollywood sets, Cowans worked with directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, and Spike Lee.