Coreen Simpson

Coreen Simpson (born February 18, 1942) is a noted African-American photographer and jewelry designer, whose work has an African-American theme.

Coreen Simpson
Born (1942-02-18) February 18, 1942
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationPhotographer
Jewelry designer
Years activeearly 1980s-present

Early life and education

Simpson was born in Brooklyn and was raised along with her brother by a foster family in Brooklyn.[1] She completed Samuel J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn.[1] She took courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design, and studied with Frank Stewart, Studio Museum in Harlem in 1977.[1][2]

Career

Simpson's career launched when she became editor for Unique New York magazine in 1980, and she began photographing to illustrate her articles.[1][2] She then became a freelance fashion photographer for the Village Voice and the Amsterdam News in the early 1980s, and covered many African-American cultural and political events in the mid-1980s. She is also noted for her studies of Harlem nightlife. She constructed a portable studio and brought it to clubs in downtown Manhattan, barbershops in Harlem, and braiding salons in Queens.[2] Her work's ability to present a wide variety of subjects with "depth of character and dignity" has been compared to that of Diane Arbus and Weegee.[3]

The Black Cameo

In addition to her photography, Simpson also designed jewelry.[4] Her most notable jewelry collection is known as The Black Cameo (1990). The collection reintroduces the ancient tradition of cameos, but features portraits of black women. The portraits show the great variety of features of black women. Simpson’s goal was that every black women would be able to identify with the portraits within her cameo jewelry.[5] Customers of the Black Cameo collection included Ruby Dee and Oprah Winfrey.[6]

Simpson and Avon Products entered a joint venture in 1993 and created the Coreen Simpson Regal Beauty Collection, a budget line of designs which included a moderately-priced African American cameo.[7]

Simpson resides in New York City.

Collections

Simpson's works have been collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Musee de la Photographie in Belgium, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture,[8] the International Center for Photography, the Harlem State Office, and the James Van Der Zee Institute.[9]

Selected exhibitions

Awards
  • 1987: Light Work Residency
  • Nueva Luz, Volume 1#2
  • 1994: The Mary McLeod Bethune Award from the National Council of Negro Women
  • 2000: The Madame C.J. Walker Award
  • 2006: The National Council of Negro Women "Legend's Award"

Bibliography
  • Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Black Women Photographers, Writers & Readers, 1993
  • Coreen Simpson, Black Women in America, MacMillan, 1999
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References
  1. Birt, Rodger (1987). "Coreen Simpson: An Interpretation". Black American Literature Forum. 21 (3): 289–304. doi:10.2307/2904032. JSTOR 2904032.
  2. Rosenblum, Naomi (2000). A history of women photographers (Second, updated and expanded ed.). New York: Abbeville Press. pp. 253, 349. ISBN 978-0789206589. OCLC 43729073.
  3. Black Women in America, p. 250.
  4. "Coreen Simpson". The Black Cameo Collection. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
  5. "Style Makers; Coreen Simpson, Cameo Designer". The New York Times: A42. February 25, 1990.
  6. "Museum Trunk Show Event". Studio Museum Harlem. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  7. Wilkinson, Deborrah (July 1996). "Afrocentric Marketing: Not Just a Niche". Black Enterprise: 76.
  8. Hassan, Salah M. (March 20, 2012). "'1 + 1 = 3' Joining Forces: Coreen Simpson's Photographic Suite". Nka Journal of Contemporary African Art. 2012 (30): 44–59. doi:10.1215/10757163-1496462. ISSN 1075-7163.
  9. Moutoussamy-Ashe, Jeanne (1993). Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers. New York: Writers & Readers Publishing, Inc. p. 172. ISBN 978-0863161582.
  10. Fraser, C. Gerald (1979-03-24). "GOING OUT Guide". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-03-19.
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