Getty Center Features Commercial Photographer Barbara DuMetz in Black Arts Movement Exhibition
Barbara DuMetz's 1977 Kraft Foods Advertisement is included in the Getty Center exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985, on view through June 14, 2026. The Los Angeles-based photographer has produced commercial images for Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and Kraft as well as portraits of Miles Davis, Betye Saar, Frank Sinatra, and Sarah Vaughan. DuMetz began her career in the late 1960s and 1970s, shooting for Black ad agencies, magazines, and the film industry while navigating limited opportunities for Black women photographers.
The Signal
Her inclusion signals renewed institutional attention to overlooked commercial photographers who advanced diversity in advertising imagery during the Black Arts Movement. Collectors and curators can trace how DuMetz’s studio-based approach and client relationships produced widely circulated images that documented shifting representations of African American life. The exhibition places her output alongside the broader cohort of Black cinematographers, art directors, and designers active from the mid-1960s onward.
- Artists: Barbara DuMetz
- People: Mazie Harris, Nia Crichelle Robertson
- Museums: Getty Center
- Locations: Los Angeles
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