{{Short description|American artist (1910–1996)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2021}} {{Infobox artist | name = Austin Hansen | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{birth date|1910|01|28}} | birth_place = Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands<ref name="NYTObit">{{cite web |last1=Gelder |first1=Lawrence Van |title=Austin Hansen, Visual Chronicler of Harlem Life, Dies at 85 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/25/nyregion/austin-hansen-visual-chronicler-of-harlem-life-dies-at-85.html |website=The New York Times |date=January 25, 1996}}</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|1996|01|23|1910|01|28}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | nationality = | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = | notable_works = | style = | movement = | awards = <!-- {{awd|award|year|title|role|name}} (optional) --> | website = <!-- {{URL|Example.com}} --> }}

'''Austin Hansen''' (January 28, 1910 – January 23, 1996) was a Black American photographer known for his chronicling of life in Harlem.

==Early life== Austin Hansen was born in 1910 in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.<ref name="NYTObit" /> He began taking photographs at age 12, and was assisted by the island's official photographer.<ref name="NYTObit" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wu |first1=Juliana |last2=Duren |first2=Joyce |title=Profiles in Black: Biographical Sketches of 100 Living Black Unsung Heroes |year=1976 |publisher=CORE Publications |isbn=978-0-917354-01-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l5gaAQAAIAAJ&q=Austin+Hansen+photographer |language=en}}</ref> He served in the United States Navy as a photographer's mate.<ref name="NYTObit" /><ref name="CNNFYI">{{cite web |title=CNNfyi.com – Chasing the Dream |url=http://www.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/specials/bhm/story/hansen.html |website=www.cnn.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Salzman |first1=Jack |last2=Smith |first2=David L. |last3=West |first3=Cornel |title=Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History |year=1996 |publisher=Macmillan Library Reference |isbn=978-0-02-897365-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T4QYAAAAIAAJ&q=Austin+Hansen+photographer |language=en}}</ref>

He came to New York City in 1928,<ref name="CNNFYI" /> but racist attitudes of the time blocked him from employment despite an excellent reference from a naval officer for whom he had worked.<ref name="NYTObit" /> He worked instead as a dishwasher and elevator operator, and occasionally played the drums.<ref name="NYTObit" /><ref name="CNNFYI" />

==Career== Hansen's first break came when he took a photograph of a young Black woman singing for Eleanor Roosevelt at an uptown hotel, which he sold to the New York Amsterdam News for $2.<ref name="NYTObit" /> Building on this small start, he was eventually able to make photography his full-time profession and his portraits and news photographs captured life in Harlem for the next sixty years.

He did portrait work at his studio, as well as freelancing for newspapers such as The Chicago Defender and the Staten Island Advance. In addition to everyday community life such as weddings, street scenes, and Harlem architecture, Hansen captured images of notable political figures (Haile Selassie, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr.), authors (Langston Hughes), entertainers (Count Basie, Eartha Kitt), and others.

Hansen was for decades the official photographer for the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and documented events at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights.<ref name="CNNFYI"/> For the last five years of his life, he was artist-in-residence at the Photographic Center of Harlem.<ref name="NYTObit" />

==Legacy== Over the course of his life Hansen built a massive collection of over 500,000 portraits of Black Americans, ranging from churchmen and political leaders to everyday working-class people. More than 50,000 of his images are at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Hansen was the subject of the film ''Search for Hansen: A Photographer of Harlem'', directed by Justin Bryant.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wall |first1=C. Edward |title=Media Review Digest |year=2001 |publisher=Pierian Press |isbn=978-0-87650-387-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OboPAQAAMAAJ&q=Austin+Hansen+photographer |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Library Journal: Chiefly Devoted to Library Economy and Bibliography |year=2000 |publisher=R.R. Bowker Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NzvhAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Search+for+Hansen:+A+photographer+of+harlem%22 |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/austin-hansen-collection#/?tab=navigation Austin Hansen photograph collection], New York Public Library Digital Collections * [http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20601#overview Austin Hansen papers], New York Public Library * [http://ahansenphotography.com/biography/ Official site]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Austin}} Category:African-American photographers Category:American portrait photographers Category:Photographers from New York City Category:1910 births Category:1996 deaths Category:20th-century African-American artists