The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Untitled (45470)

Untitled (45470)

1959
(American, b. 1933)
Paper: 76.2 x 101.6 cm (30 x 40 in.)
© Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

One of Davidson’s best-known series, Brooklyn Gang was inspired by a news story about a teenage gang called the Jokers.

Description

Shown here at Coney Island, Joker Artie Giammarino, who later became a police officer, rolls up his sleeve while Cathy O’Neal, “beautiful like Brigitte Bardot,” according to fellow gang member Bob Powers, fixes her hair using the mirror on a cigarette machine. At 13 she started dating gang member Junior Rice, the epitome of “cool,” who carried counterculture Beat poet Allen Ginsberg’s poem Howl in his back pocket. Before she had turned 15, Cathy got pregnant and married Junior, but the couple later divorced. Junior became a heroin dealer and user. Years after their divorce, Cathy committed suicide by shotgun.
  • Tannenbaum, Barbara, "Bruce Davidson: The great American photographer's series on Brooklyn street gangs taps themes of belonging and identity.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 4 (Fall 2020): 6-7. Reproduced: P. 6; Mentioned: P. 6-7.
  • Bruce Davidson: Brooklyn Gang. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 25, 2020-June 13, 2021).
  • {{cite web|title=Untitled (45470)|url=false|author=Bruce Davidson|year=1959|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.683