Silver Gelatin Photograph of Father Divine, by Addison Scurlock, Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. ca. 1930s–1940s. Silver gelatin photograph, 5 x 7 inches, showing Father Divine standing behind a desk or table, hands resting before him, in suit and striped tie. Pulled from a scrapbook, with paper remnants on verso; fine contrast and very good overall. Although this particular print is not credited on the mount or verso, the image is a confirmed Addison Scurlock photograph. Very good. Item #List3825 Father Divine, also known as The Messenger and Reverend Major Jealous Divine, was one of the more distinctive American religious figures of the early twentieth century. Founder of the International Peace Mission movement, he attracted a large interracial following and was widely covered, admired, criticized, and caricatured in the press. This photograph shows him in Washington, D.C., formally dressed and posed before what appears to be a plain institutional or meeting-room backdrop, a quieter image than the more sensational public accounts that often surrounded him. Addison Scurlock was one of the leading African American photographers in Washington, D.C., and his studio produced a major visual record of Black civic, social, religious, and cultural life in the capital. This copy was likely printed in the 1930s or 1940s and survives as a strong period silver gelatin print, though with scrapbook removal evidence on the back. A good photographic portrait connecting two significant figures in Black twentieth-century history.
Price: $375.00