Photographs
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Davis, Gene, 1920-1985
setName: label: See more items in
content: Gene Davis papers
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3.8 Linear Feet (Boxes 11-15, 17, OV 19)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1920-2000
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.davigene, Series 7
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Snapshots are grouped in sets of photographs that were shot or processed at the same time wherever possible. Some of these sets include scattered individual shots not relating to the general subject matter named in the folder heading. Where photographs with similar content or from the same group of photographs have been divided between the albums and loose photographs, similar folder headings are used in both locations. Negatives are filed with corresponding prints wherever possible as well, but not all negatives have been matched to their prints in the series arrangement. Where negatives are known to have no corresponding prints in the collection, it is noted in the folder list. 

Photographs documenting Davis's storage facility from 1985, presumably taken for estate assessment purposes, are filed with the Business and Estate Records. Photographs used in Steven Naifeh's monograph on Davis are filed with drafts of the book's manuscript in series 5, Writings. Photographs reproduced in a memorial photo album are filed with series 1, Biographical Material. Moving images containing footage of students and art classes are found in series 8, Artwork.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Photographs include personal photographs of Gene and Florence Davis and their families, portraits of Gene Davis, photographs of Gene Davis with artworks and working in the studio, Davis' art classes and students, installations of site-specific works, conceptual and video works, exhibition openings, and photographs of artwork, both installed in exhibitions and individually photographed. Also found are three disassembled photograph albums with similar content. Photographic media include prints, contact sheets, negatives, Polaroid prints, slides, and transparencies. Scattered 4x5" Copy negatives appear to have been created for the catalog to the 1987 memorial exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and envelopes containing these negatives sometimes provide additional identifying information not on the original print. 

Images of Gene Davis are scattered throughout the series, either alone or in groups, and other people pictured are not typically identified. Where people are identified on the original photographs, their names are included in the folder list below. Among those identified in photographs are Harry Truman, John L. Lewis, J. Edgar Hoover, Walter Hopps, Jacob Kainen, Ed McGowin, Douglas Davis, Jane Livingston, Joan Mondale, and Bob Woodward.
 
Three photograph albums that were disassembled upon accession of the collection are filed at the beginning of the series. Many of the photographs in these albums are from groups of prints filed elsewhere in the series. Album photographs include portraits of Davis, childhood photographs, Davis working as a journalist and model early in life, snapshots from travels and social gatherings, Davis's Washington, D.C. home, Davis in his studio, art classes, installations of site-specific works, and artworks. 

Loose photographs comprise the remainder of the series and include personal photographs and art-related photographs. Personal photographs include portraits of Gene Davis and Florence Coulson Davis, family photographs, and snapshots taken over a period of twenty years showing the Davis's with family and friends at home and traveling abroad. Portraits and snapshots are followed by several sets of photographs showing art classes, art students, and models for classes presumably taught by Davis. Other art-related photographs include openings for Gene Davis exhibitions, visits to other museum and gallery exhibitions, installations of Davis's site-specific works, and photographs of the 1969 "Giveaway" event. Snapshots of Davis's studio, some with Davis pictured and some without, are also found. 

Photographs of artwork include prints, slides, transparencies, and Polaroid prints of drawings, paintings, and video art by Davis, shot individually and also shown installed in specific exhibitions. Prints are typically identified by title and date and sometimes collection, and some prints contain information about their creation or reproduction. Also found are exhibition views of installed works spanning Davis' career. Photographs of artwork and exhibition views are black and white prints unless otherwise indicated in the folder list. Among the exhibition views are four videocassettes (VHS) of the 1987 retrospective at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art.