Thomas Roma (formerly Thomas Germano; born 1950) is an American
photographer
A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographe ...
who has worked almost exclusively since 1974 exploring the neighborhoods and institutions of his native
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, photographing scenes from churches, subways and everyday life. His work, made almost exclusively using a homemade camera, has received widespread acclaim.
Roma's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Life and work
Roma was a founder of the Department of Photography at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
's School of the Arts and was head of the Department until his retirement in 2018. Roma has also taught photography at
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
,
Fordham, and
Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
.
He has been awarded two
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
s and his work has appeared in one-person exhibitions at the
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
(MOMA) and the
International Center of Photography
The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...
in New York City.
For his collections of black-and-white photographs ''Come Sunday'', exhibited at MOMA in 1996, Roma attended more than 150 religious services at 52
black church
The black church (sometimes termed Black Christianity or African American Christianity) is the faith and body of Christian congregations and denominations in the United States that minister predominantly to African Americans, as well as their ...
es in Brooklyn over a period of three years. ''Come Sunday'' is one of Roma's best-known works, along with a collection of photographs at people in the Brooklyn
courthouse
A courthouse or court house is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English-spe ...
s.
''In the Vale of Cashmere'' (2015) contains landscape and portrait photographs at a gay
cruising ground in Brooklyn, New York, made over more than 3 years.
Siciliano Camera Works
In 1972, inspired by a
Voigtländer
Voigtländer () was a significant long-established company within the optics and photographic industry, headquartered in Braunschweig, Germany, and today continues as a trademark for a range of photographic products.
History
Voigtländer was fo ...
Bergheil camera used by
Brassaï
Brassaï (; pseudonym of Gyula Halász; 9 September 1899 – 8 July 1984) was a Hungarian–French photographer, sculptor, medalist, writer, and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He was one of the numerous H ...
, Roma created a prototype
medium format
Medium format has traditionally referred to a film format in photography and the related cameras and equipment that use film. Nowadays, the term applies to film and digital cameras that record images on media larger than the used in 35&nbs ...
camera, which he used for most of his career. After pictures taken with it won a 1973
New York State Council for the Arts
The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell (1905–1996), ...
grant, he began selling his cameras under the name "Siciliano Camera Works". Siciliano also manufactured a
35mm 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format commonly referred to as 35 mm film
* 35 mm movie film, a type of motion picture film stock
* 35MM 35 mm may refer to:
* 135 film, a type of still photography format ...
hand-held
panoramic camera
Panoramic photography is a technique of photography, using specialized equipment or software, that captures images with horizontally elongated fields of view. It is sometimes known as ''wide format photography''. The term has also been applied to ...
.
Reported allegations of sexual misconduct
On January 3, 2018, ''The New York Times'' published an article about allegations made by five former students from Columbia University and School of Visual Arts, in which they accused Roma of sexual misconduct.
Through an attorney, Roma issued a statement about the accusations: "The statements they
he five womenare making about his asserted misconduct are replete with inaccuracies and falsehoods. All four
ivehave taken isolated, innocent incidents, none of them predatory, and have created fictitious versions of reality that are libelous and in the present political climate designed to damage his career and his personal life. Professor Roma’s sympathies then and now lie with those who have been mistreated in any way and he completely fails to understand why these women have chosen to create these complaints two decades after the alleged facts supposedly occurred."
Roma retired from teaching from Columbia University on January 3, 2018, the day ''New York Times'' story broke.
The
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
cancelled an exhibition of Roma's work, scheduled to open May 2018, because of the accusations.
Personal
Roma is married to Anna Friedlander, daughter of photographer
Lee Friedlander
Lee Friedlander (born July 14, 1934) is an American photographer and artist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban "social landscape," with many of his photographs including fragm ...
. They have one son, Giancarlo T. Roma.
Books by Roma
*''Come Sunday'' (1996). With an introduction by
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...
*''Found in Brooklyn'' (1996). With an introduction by
Robert Coles
*''Sunset Park'' (1998). With an introduction by
Ian Frazier
Ian Frazier (born 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American writer and humorist. He wrote the 1989 non-fiction history ''Great Plains'', 2010's non-fiction travelogue ''Travels in Siberia'', and works as a writer and humorist for ''The New Yorker ...
.
*''Higher Ground'' (1999)
*''Enduring Justice'' (2001). With an introduction by
Norman Mailer
Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
.
*''Sanctuary'' (2002)
*''Show & Tell'' (2002). With and introduction by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
*''Sicilian Passage'' (2003). With an introduction by
John Szarkowski
Thaddeus John Szarkowski (December 18, 1925 – July 7, 2007) was an American photographer, curator, historian, and critic. From 1962 to 1991 Szarkowski was the director of photography at New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Early life and ca ...
.
*''In Prison Air, The Cells of Holmesburg Prison'' (2005)
*''On Three Pillars'' (2007). With text by
Phillip Lopate
Phillip Lopate (born 1943) is an American film critic, essayist, fiction writer, poet, and teacher. He is the younger brother of radio host Leonard Lopate.
Early life
Phillip Lopate was born in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with a BA degr ...
.
*''House Calls'' (2008). With
William Carlos Williams
William Carlos Williams (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963) was an American poet, writer, and physician closely associated with modernism and imagism.
In addition to his writing, Williams had a long career as a physician practicing both pedia ...
. With an accompanying text by Robert Coles.
*''Dear Knights and Dark Horses'' (2010). With an introduction by
Alec Wilkinson
Alec Wilkinson (born 1952) is a writer who has been on the staff of ''The New Yorker'' since 1980. According to ''The Philadelphia Inquirer '' he is among the "first rank of" contemporary American (20th and early 21st century) "literary journali ...
.
*''The Waters of Our Time'' (2014). With a collaborative text by Giancarlo T. Roma.
*''In the Vale of Cashmere'' (2015). With an introduction by
G. Winston James.
*''Plato's Dogs'' (2016). With an introduction by Giancarlo T. Roma.
Collections
Roma's work is held in the following permanent public collections:
*
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
, New York
*
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern and contemporary art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art, and was ...
, CA
*
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
, CA
*
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
, CA
Thomas Roma at LACMA
/ref>
References
“From street stoops to courtrooms, Thomas Roma explores public and private lives in his native Brooklyn,” by Blake Eskin, ''ArtNews'', May 2002
External links
*
The Waters of Our Time facebook page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roma, Thomas
1950 births
Photographers from New York City
Living people