Personal Vision Photographs

Master American photographer Adger Cowan's predominantly black-and-white photography is collected in Personal Vision: Photographs, his monograph of original images taken over the past forty years. Cowans is one of the great unrecognized photographic luminaries of our time, and this magnificent book is a fitting and long-awaited tribute to his immense talent. Personal Vision follows Cowans's photographic evolution from Navy photographer to apprentice to the great Gordon Parks to history-shaping documenter of 1960s Harlem to a high-profile Hollywood portrait photographer with a larger-than-life clientele list, including Al Pacino, Jane Fonda, Katherine Hepburn, and Mick Jagger. Cowan's images embody 1960s documentary style, street journalism, portraiture and self-portrayals, still-lifes, and experimental work. Personal Vision captures the evolution and expansive talent of a single photographer who had access to worlds as diverse as Harlem street life and high-fashion models, and who continues to photograph today with gusto and imagination, creating one of the major archives of a living American photographer, seen here for the first time in an expansive collection.

Adger Cowans studied photography at Ohio State University under Clarence H. White Jr., then served as a military photographer in the United States Navy before moving to New York City, where he worked with Life magazine photographer Gordon Parks and fashion photographers Henri Clarke, Ben Somoroff, Lillian Bassman, Steve Manville, among others. Adger was has received the John Hay Whitney Fellowship, as well as the Lorenzo il Magnifico alla Carriera, in recognition of his distinguished career, at the 2001 Florence Biennale of Contemporary Art. His travels have led him to Morocco, Brazil, Paris, London, Rome, Florence, Switzerland, Bali, Mexico, and all over the United States. Among the numerous museums Adger has exhibited at are MoMa, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, George Eastman House, Harvard University, Chicago School of Design, International School of Photography, and the Studio Museum of Harlem. He Lives in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Gordon Parks was a prominent African-American photographer, musician, writer, and film director. Parks is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1950s, for his photographic essays for Life magazine, and as the director of the 1972 film Shaft.

Romare Bearden was an American artist and writer who depicted African-American life. He experimented with many types of mediums, and even designed costumes and sets for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Bearden had a prolific career with two of his collages appearing on the covers of Fortune and Time magazines, in 1968. His work can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, among others.

Dòwòti Désir is a social curator, activist, faith leader, photojournalist, designer, and author. She lives in New York City.

Anthony Barboza is an African-American photographer, artist, historian, and writer. He is best known for his photographic work of Jazz musicians from the 70s and 80s. He lives in Westbury, New York.

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