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Black-and-white photograph of a group of children gathered around a woman in a coat standing with her arms crossed, smiling and looking down. The children cluster close to her, many grinning or laughing. Behind them is a stone-faced building with missing windows and a broken front step. Several other children are visible in the background, sitting in the window frames or standing on the steps. The ground is littered with debris. Black-and-white photograph of a group of children gathered around a woman in a coat standing with her arms crossed, smiling and looking down. The children cluster close to her, many grinning or laughing. Behind them is a stone-faced building with missing windows and a broken front step. Several other children are visible in the background, sitting in the window frames or standing on the steps. The ground is littered with debris.

Never a Lovely So Real: Photography and Film in Chicago, 1950–1980

Edited by Michal Raz-Russo

with Grace Deveney and Romi Crawford

Director's Foreword Acknowledgments Credits

"Chicago Photography: A Reintroduction" by Michal Raz-Russo "Motion Pictures: Photographers and Film in Chicago" by Grace Deveney "Black Arts Movement Photography in Chicago: From Impermanent Institutions to a Tentative 'Arrival'" by Romi Crawford The Chicago School: A Conversation with Artists Darryl Cowherd, Roy Lewis, Ozier Muhammad, and James Stricklin and Curator Michal Raz-Russo The Picture-Taking Lady: Mikki Ferrill in Conversation with Michal Raz-Russo "This Is Black Chicago: Opportunity and Inequity on the South Side" by Natalie Y. Moore "On Material, Imagination, and Memory" by Tempestt Hazel "Proof of Love" by Tonika Johnson

Works in the Exhibition Installation Views

Audio Tour and Transcripts: Chicago Seen and Heard Video: "Panel: A Conversation About Photography and the Black Arts Movement" Video: "Mikki Ferrill's Garage Series, Art Institute Essentials Tour"

This publication celebrates, and expands upon, the 2018 exhibition Never a Lovely So Real: Photography and Film in Chicago, 1950–1980, which presented the work of practitioners across the city who vividly captured the spirit of their communities.

Contributions

Browse all 8 Contributions

From the Exhibition

Digital Resources

How to Cite

Michal Raz-Russo, with Grace Deveney and Romi Crawford, eds., Never a Lovely So Real: Photography and Film in Chicago, 1950–1980 (Art Institute of Chicago, 2025).

© 2025 by The Art Institute of Chicago. This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.53269/9780865593237

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