Black Photographer Charles "Teenie" Harris Signed Photo of Pittsburgh Lunch Counter, 1949

Black Photographer Teenie Harris

Manuscripts & Autographs

[Photography] [African American] Black photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris captures a vernacular photograph at a lunch counter within Pittsburgh’s Hill District—an epicenter of Black cultural and civic life in the mid-20th century. Circa 1949. Black and white silver gelatin print measuring 10" x 8". This warm and candid image shows a portly, pinstriped Arthur Oursley seated at a classic lunch counter, flashing a relaxed, satisfied smile. Behind the counter, Erin Ma Pitts Godfrey leans forward in a crisp white uniform, beaming at the camera amid the stainless steel fixtures and patterned tile backdrop of her establishment, Ma Pitts Restaurant. Ink signed “Teenie Harris” in the lower left, with Harris Studio’s blindstamp in the lower right margin. Dated circa 1949, this photograph stands as a quintessential example of Harris’s excellence in documenting mainstays of Black life of his period. The sitters’ relaxed and confident postures reveal the restaurant as a site not only of business but of social belonging. A rare signed print from a master of African American vernacular photography, showing the vibrant heart of a postwar Black Pittsburgh institution. Very good condition.

Charles “Teenie” Harris (American, 1908–1998) was one of the most prolific and significant chroniclers of African American life in the United States. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Harris worked as a photojournalist for the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the nation’s most influential Black newspapers, from 1936 to 1975. Over the course of his career, he produced more than 80,000 photographs documenting nearly every aspect of African American urban life: church gatherings, political meetings, nightlife, family portraits, and street scenes. His work uniquely combined artistry with activism, bearing witness to both the ordinary and the extraordinary lives of his community. In recognition of his cultural contributions, Harris’s archive was acquired by the Carnegie Museum of Art, which holds this exact image as registration number 2001.35.3066.

Item #21508

Price: $885.00