Background
Roy Rudolph DeCarava was born in 1919 in ew York City, United States.
Roy Rudolph DeCarava was born in 1919 in ew York City, United States.
DeCarava studied painting at Cooper Union Institute (1938-40), painting at Harlem Art Center (1940-42), and drawing and painting at George Washington Carver Art School (1944-45), all in New York City.
He was appointed associate professor of art at Hunter College in New York City in 1975, and in 1979 became a full professor. Previously he was an adiunct instructor in photography at Cooper Union (1969-72) and a contract photographer for Sports Illustrated magazine, 1968-75. DeCarava's photographs have also appeared in such publications as Look, Newsweek, Time and Life.
He also founded and directed A Photographers Gallery in New York City (1954-56).
DeCarava was the first black artist to win a Guggenheim Fellowship (1952). He has also received a Certificate of Recognition from the Mt. Morris United Presbyterian Church and Community Life Center in New York City (1969).
A member of ASMP from 1963 to 1966, he chaired its Committee to End Discrimination Against Black Photographers. He was a member of the National Serigraph Society (1944-46).