LaToya Ruby Frazier - Photographs New York Wednesday, October 9, 2024 | Phillips
  • Latoya Ruby Frazier’s The Notion of Family is a multi-generational photo documentary project which she embarked on with her mother and grandmother in 2001. Motivated by the disintegration of her hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania and its impact on the lives of black middle-class communities, Frazier focused her lens on the people and places closest to her. Inspired by photographers such as Gordon Parks and Dorothea Lange, Frazier’s photographs capture the humanity of her subjects while examining the role of social structures in determining their livelihoods. While deeply personal in its depiction of intimate relationships and familial possessions, as in the current image featuring portraits of her aunt and grandmother, her work also addresses themes of racism, industrialization, justice and healthcare; topics that are at once specific and universal.

     

    Since its debut in 2009, The Notion of Family has been widely exhibited with exhibitions in Miami, Atlanta, Paris, Charlottesville, and Pittsburgh. The book, published by Aperture in 2015, received the International Center for Photography’s Infinity Award. Photographs from this series, alongside an expansive selection of Frazier’s other works, were mounted at the Museum of Modern Art as a major retrospective exhibition entitled Monuments of Solidarity from May 12 – September 7, 2024.

     

    In 2013, LaToya Ruby Frazier was one of three shortlisted photographers for the Art Gallery of Ontario’s AIMIA AGO Photography Prize which recognized artists ‘working in photography whose work exhibited extraordinary potential over the preceding five years.’ This print was acquired at the time by the corporate collection, AIMIA, in connection with their sponsorship of the event. The Prize brought recognition to 40 artists over the course of its decade-long run, including Hank Willis Thomas, who was the final winner to receive the honor in 2017 at which point it was retired.

    • Condition Report

    • Description

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    • Provenance

      Galerie Michel Rein, Paris/Brussels via the Art Gallery of Ontario Art Rental & Sales Gallery, 2013
      Corporate Collection, Toronto, acquired from the above in connection with the AIMIA / AGO Photography Prize;
      Private Collection, Canada

    • Exhibited

      Aimia | AGO Photography Prize 2013 Exhibition, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 11 September 2013 - 5 January 2014

    • Literature

      Aperture, Latoya Ruby Frazier: The Notion of Family, p. 131

361

Aunt Midgie and Grandma Ruby from The Notion of Family

2007
Gelatin silver print, mounted.
18 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. (47.6 x 59.7 cm)
Number 3 from an edition of 3.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
$10,000 - 15,000 

Place Advance Bid
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Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs
skrueger@phillips.com

 

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com

Photographs

New York Auction 9 October 2024