{{Infobox artist | honorific_prefix = | name = Alex Harsley | honorific_suffix = | image = <!-- just the pagename, without the File:/Image: prefix or brackets --> | image_size = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different than name --> | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1938}} | birth_place = Rock Hill, South Carolina, U.S. | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} --> | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = Photography | notable_works = | style = | movement = | spouse = | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = | module = | children = Kendra Krueger }} '''Alex Harsley''' (born 1938 in Rock Hill, South Carolina) is an American photographer, multimedia artist and founder of the Fourth Street Photo Gallery who lives and works in New York City.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Glicksman|first=Marlaine|title=Alex Harsley: New York's last iconoclast|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/12/10/alex-harsley-new-yorks-last-iconoclast|access-date=2020-12-27|website=www.aljazeera.com|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Cotter|first=Holland|date=2012-06-14|title=Alex Harsley (Published 2012)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/arts/design/alex-harsley.html|access-date=2020-12-27|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Harsley was born to a Methodist mother in Rock Hill and began working on the family cotton and peanut farm as a child during World War II. He met his father, a soldier, in 1945. Harsley moved to New York City in 1948.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news|date=2019-01-26|title=Alex Harsley is an unsung doyen of New York photography|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2019/01/26/alex-harsley-is-an-unsung-doyen-of-new-york-photography|access-date=2020-12-27|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

== Career == Harsley purchased his first real camera, an Exakta XV, in 1959.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Alex Harsley Bio|url=http://www.the4thstreetphotogallery.com/alex-harsley1.html|access-date=2020-12-27|website=The 4th Street Photo Gallery|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> His first job in New York was a bike messenger, allowing him to multitask as a street photographer. Harsley was the first black photographer in the New York City District Attorney's office under Frank Hogan.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Boylan|first=Jeannie Downs|date=2019-11-08|title=An Artist's Refuge: The 4th Street Photo Gallery|url=https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/11/08/4th-street-photo-gallery-the-dig/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-27|website=CBS Local NYC|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=YARLAGADDA|first=TARA|date=August 31, 2018|title=Minority Photographers Archives|url=https://bedfordandbowery.com/tag/minority-photographers/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-27|website=Bedford + Bowery|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Tiu|first=Van|date=October 22, 2018|title=Stepping Back Into Time at the 4th Street Photo Gallery|url=https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/top-stories/2018/10/22/stepping-back-into-time-at-the-4th-street-photo-gallery|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-27|website=www.ny1.com|language=en}}</ref> In 1959 he had his first photo exhibition in Harlem.<ref name=":0" />

Originally Harsley worked in street photography, events and portraiture. He has photographed John Coltrane and Ray Charles at the Apollo, Sarah Vaughn at Birdland, Muhammad Ali, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Shirley Chisholm’s nomination for President.He photographed activists Harry Belefonte, Coretta Scott King, Paul Robeson Jr and Angela Davis when they met for the first time at a benefit in 1972.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Reyes|first=Damaso|date=July 6, 2017|title=Photographer Alex Harsely lights up June Kelly Gallery|url=http://amsterdamnews.com/news/2017/jul/06/photographer-alex-harsely-lights-june-kelly-galler/|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-12-27|website=amsterdamnews.com}}</ref> A Harsley photo of Muhammad Ali adorned Darren Walker's office in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bartolucci|first=Marisa|date=2019-09-27|title=Darren Walker and Lisa Kim Talk About Their Bold Choices For the New Ford Foundation Gallery|url=https://www.interiordesign.net/articles/16960-darren-walker-and-lisa-kim-talk-about-their-bold-choices-for-the-new-ford-foundation-gallery/|access-date=2020-12-27|website=Interior Design|language=en-us}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Impact|first=Sorenson|title=Philanthropy Should Take Risks|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/sorensonimpact/2019/02/25/philanthropy-should-take-risks/|access-date=2020-12-27|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref>

Harsley began working in video and digital photography, creating experimental video works and collaborating with artist David Hammons with many of his performance works. Hammons' "Phat Free" video was a collaboration with Harsley and was included in the 1997 Whitney Biennial.<ref name=":0" />

=== 4th Street Photo Gallery === Harsley founded Minority Photographers, Inc. in 1971 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He created the nonprofit, 4th Street Photo Gallery, in 1973 as a venue for the group and his growing community of photographers. Exhibitions at the gallery included the work of Curtis Cuffie, Dawoud Bey, Eli Reed, Cynthia MacAdams, Denise Keim, David Hammons and Terry Adkins, and the photos of musician Vernon Reid. Harsley gave Andres Serrano his first exhibition in New York City. It was known as "the Black barbershop of photography," where emerging artists of color mingled with notable artists like Abelardo Morell, Spencer Tunick and A. D. Coleman.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":1" />

== Personal life == Harsley is an avid bicyclist. He married Shelagh Krueger and has a daughter named Kendra Krueger who has been helping to archive his work.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

== References == <references />

== External links == *Fourth Street Photo Gallery [http://www.the4thstreetphotogallery.com/ website] *[https://www.newyorksaid.com/alex-harsley/ New York Said Podcast]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harsley, Alex}} Category:Artists from New York City Category:1938 births Category:Living people Category:Artists from South Carolina