A Boy in Front of the Loews 125th Street Movie Theater: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This image depicts a young boy, Damon Mitchell, standing on sidewalk in front a movie ticket box office. He leans with his left arm against a wooden barricade. Wearing sunglasses, a track suit and white sneakers, he holds a small drink carton in his left hand. Behind him is an octagonal ticket booth, decorated on the bottom with a geometric mosaic pattern and solid glass on the top. A person is visible in the booth. Beyond the ticket booth is a dark corridor with lighted movie displays.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1976; printed 2005
• Photograph by: Dawoud Bey, American, born 1953
• Printed by: Black Point Editions, American, founded 2004
• Subject of: Damon Mitchell, American, died 1990s
• Type: carbon prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: gelatin and carbon black on rag paper
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 9 1/2 × 6 3/8 in. (24.1 × 16.2 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
• Place depicted: Harlem, New York City, New York County, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Amusements
• Topic: Children
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2013.197.12
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Dawoud Bey Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.