Lee Marmon, John Riley (Laguna)
Lee Marmon
1925-2021
Laguna Pueblo
Date
1950
Medium Specific
Photograph
Classification
Photograph
Dimensions
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Accession Number
2008.20.10.58
Credit
Gift of the Artist
Memo / Artist Statement
This is one of my favorite pictures. In 1950, I had just purchased a new four-by-five-speed graphic and was walking around the village with the camera. I came upon John Riley sitting there beating the drum. His grandchildren were dancing. And of course the real shot would have been all of them together, but for some reason, when I moved in and took a picture of him alone beating the drum, the children stopped dancing. (Lee Marmon, Laguna Pueblo: A Photographic History, p.146)
Biography
One of America’s most renowned Native American photographers, Marmon began his career in 1947, photographing elders and members of his community in Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico. Over the past fifty years Marmon’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. His diverse portfolio includes work with Columbia Pictures, official photographer for the Bob Hope Desert Classic for eight years, a Commission for the White House in 1972, and most recently photographing for the American Indian College Fund. The portfolio features photographic prints from throughout his career.