Item #4020 "Reborn" [caption title]. African Americana, Robert C. Barndt, Pennsylvania.

"Reborn" [caption title]

[N.p., but likely Johnstown, Pa.]: Johnstown Tribute-Democrat, [before 1969]. Sepia-toned photograph, 13.25 x 10.25 inches, mounted on textured backing measuring 20 x 16 inches, typed label at bottom left, reading "85 - 'Reborn' Robert C. Barndt, Jr. Tribune-Democrat." Minor surface wear to photo, light soiling to mount. Very good. Item #4020

A wonderful large-format photograph picturing two African American religious officials baptizing an African American woman in an unnamed river, taken by noted Pennsylvania newspaper photographer Robert C. Barndt, Jr. Barndt was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Upon graduating high school in Conemaugh Township in 1946, Barndt spent twenty-three years as the news photographer for the Johnstown Tribune Democrat. In 1969, Barndt quit the paper and transferred his photography skills to retail camera sales for the remainder of his career in Pennsylvania and Arizona. He retired in 1998 and passed away in Phoenix in 2005. The label on the present photograph states that it was taken by Barndt while he was still working in an official capacity for the Tribune Democrat. The image captures a rather stunning moment of an African American woman being "Reborn" through religious ceremony in the arms of two of her church leaders, with the watery reflections of each of the three people given equal space in the image.

Price: $950.00