Biography

Adger Cowans (b. 1936) is one of the first African American students to earn a degree in Photography from Ohio University in 1958, and he later furthered his education at the School of Motion Picture Arts and School of Visual Arts in New York City. Following his graduation, Cowans obtained a position assisting photographer Gordon Parks at LIFE magazine. Cowans later served in the United States Navy in Virginia Beach, Virginia, but continued to work as a photographer. Cowans also has a storied career in cinema as a film still photographer on over thirty Hollywood sets, working with directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet, and Spike Lee.

 

One of the most poignant moments in Cowans’ career occurred while living and working in New York City during the early 1960s. Cowans was recruited by James Ray Francis to become a founding member of the Kamoinge Workshop, and along with Louis Draper, they would be the only members with a formal education in the arts. Kamoinge, translating to “group effort” from the language of the Kikuyu people in Kenya, sought to present the Black community with dignity and positivity, which was antithetical to the stereotypical portrayal by the media. He is currently president of the workshop.

 

For Cowans, the paramount elements of photography, and art at large, are heart and feeling. Cowans describes the act of photographing as such: “When I take a picture, I feel it. When you get that rush of feeling inside of you of “I have it. I felt it’.” Communication of spirit and emotion is essential for Cowans’ practice, in addition to the ability to capture light and shadow. The ritual act of taking a photograph is a kind of spiritual practice to Cowans; he believes that when this ritual is combined with the technical aspect of understanding the qualities of light, photographs become art.

Series
Selected Works
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled
    Acrylic on heavy black woven fabric
    Canvas: 20 x 16 1/4 in (50.8 x 41.3 cm)
    Frame: 21 1/8 x 17 1/4 in (53.7 x 43.8 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 12 x 17 in (30.5 x 43.2 cm)
    Frame: 13 1/4 x 18 in (33.7 x 45.7 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled , 1970
    Acrylic on canvas
    14 1/2 x 19 in (36.8 x 48.3 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1970
    Acrylic on canvas
    11 x 16 in (27.9 x 40.6 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled , 1970
    Acrylic on heavy black woven fabric
    16 1/2 x 22 in (41.9 x 55.9 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1970
    Acrylic on canvas
    11 x 12 in (27.9 x 30.5 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1971
    Acrylic on canvas
    11 1/2 x 11 in (29.2 x 27.9 cm)
  • Gold Flake
    Adger Cowans
    Gold Flake, 1974
    Acrylic on canvas
    25 x 33 1/2 in (63.5 x 85.1 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1975
    Acrylic pushed through perforated screen on canvas
    Canvas: 24 x 24 in (61 x 61 cm)
    Frame: 25 1/8 x 25 1/8 in (63.8 x 63.8 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled , 1980
    Acrylic on canvas
    12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1980
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 17 3/8 x 9 7/8 in (44.1 x 25.1 cm)
    Frame: 18 1/2 x 11 in (47 x 27.9 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1989
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 36 x 24 1/2 in (91.4 x 62.2 cm)
    Frame: 37 1/8 x 25 1/2 in (94.3 x 64.8 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1989
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 36 5/8 x 25 1/2 in (93 x 64.8 cm)
    Frame: 37 5/8 x 25 5/8 in (95.6 x 65.1 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled, 1990
    Acrylic fragments over acrylic ground on canvas
    Canvas: 39 1/2 x 24 1/2 in (100.3 x 62.2 cm)
    Frame: 40 3/4 x 25 3/4 in (103.5 x 65.4 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled , 1990
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 43 1/8 x 23 in (109.5 x 58.4 cm)
    Frame: 44 1/8 x 24 1/8 in (112.1 x 61.3 cm)
  • White Bolt Shimmer
    Adger Cowans
    White Bolt Shimmer , 1991
    Acrylic on canvas
    11 1/2 x 9 1/2 in (29.2 x 24.1 cm)
  • Ancestral Memory
    Adger Cowans
    Ancestral Memory, 1997
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 40 x 34 in (101.6 x 86.4 cm)
    Frame: 41 1/8 x 35 1/8 in (104.5 x 89.2 cm)
  • Glow Flake
    Adger Cowans
    Glow Flake, 1997
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 31 1/8 x 25 5/8 in (79.1 x 65.1 cm)
    Frame: 35 1/4 x 26 3/4 in (89.5 x 67.9 cm)
  • Snow Flake
    Adger Cowans
    Snow Flake , 1997
    Acrylic on canvas
    10 1/4 x 11 in (26 x 27.9 cm)
  • The Slow Drag
    Adger Cowans
    The Slow Drag, 1997
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 36 1/4 x 27 in (92.1 x 68.6 cm)
    Frame: 37 1/4 x 28 in (94.6 x 71.1 cm)
  • Blue Gold
    Adger Cowans
    Blue Gold, 1999
    Acrylic with gold powder on canvas
    Canvas: 42 1/8 x 40 1/4 in (107 x 102.2 cm)
    Frame: 43 1/4 x 41 1/4 in (109.9 x 104.8 cm)
  • #5
    Adger Cowans
    #5, 2003
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 24 1/2 x 19 1/2 in (62.2 x 49.5 cm)
    Frame: 25 7/8 x 20 7/8 in (65.7 x 53 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled , 2005
    Acrylic on canvas
    52 x 25 in (132.1 x 63.5 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled , 2005
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 54 x 48 3/4 in (137.2 x 123.8 cm)
    Frame: 55 1/4 x 49 7/8 in (140.3 x 126.7 cm)
  • Green Gold
    Adger Cowans
    Green Gold, 2006
    Acrylic on canvas
    Canvas: 36 x 32 7/8 in (91.4 x 83.5 cm)
    Frame: 37 1/8 x 33 7/8 in (94.3 x 86 cm)
  • Late Night Muse
    Adger Cowans
    Late Night Muse, 2006
    Acrylic pushed through perforated screen on canvas
    Canvas: 24 x 24 in (61 x 61 cm)
    Frame: 25 1/8 x 25 1/8 in (63.8 x 63.8 cm)
  • One for Sun-Ra
    Adger Cowans
    One for Sun-Ra, 2006
    Acrylic pushed through perforated screen on canvas
    Canvas: 23 5/8 x 24 1/8 in (60 x 61.3 cm)
    Frame: 24 5/8 x 25 1/4 in (62.5 x 64.1 cm)
  • Untitled
    Adger Cowans
    Untitled , 2006
    Acrylic on canvas
    18 x 18 in (45.7 x 45.7 cm)
  • Winter
    Adger Cowans
    Winter, 2011
    Acrylic pushed through perforated screen on canvas
    Canvas: 22 7/8 x 23 1/8 in (58.1 x 58.7 cm)
    Frame: 24 1/8 x 24 3/8 in (61.3 x 61.9 cm)
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