CORNELL CAPA (1918-2008)

Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, 1939
gelatin silver print, printed c.2005
initialled in pencil, with copyright label titled and dated in ink (verso)
sheet 14 x 11 in. (354 x 277 mm.); in window mount (414 x 336 mm).

A young Cornell Capa captured this dynamic shot of a couple lindy hopping at the famous Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, early in his career as a photojournalist for Life magazine, where he would work for more than 20 years. He would later join Magnum in 1954, focusing on the first 100 days of President Kennedy’s Presidency, and founded the International Center of Photography in 1974. This image was featured in the photographer's obituary in the Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2008.

Opened in 1926, the Savoy Ballroom on Lennox Avenue in Harlem billed itself as the “World’s Finest Ballroom’. In her article Swinging at the Savoy, Barbara Englebrecht notes that the club was the 'soul' of a neighbourhood, explaining that the integrated Savoy ‘was one of the more important ballrooms where black musicians and dancers converged and defined a period: music and dance at the Savoy drew attention to the fact that the tradition of black musical and dance forms were interrelated, and together were responsible for the swing phenomenon… For young black dancers who went to the Savoy night after night… dancing at the Savoy became a way of life.’ Many dances such as the Lindy Hop were developed and became famous there, leading to the club becoming known downtown as the “Home of Happy Feet”.