Untitled (40019)

2009

Brooklyn Gang: Untitled (40019), 2009. Bruce Davidson (American, b. 1933). Gelatin silver print; paper: 27.9 x 35.6 cm (11 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of an anonymous donor 2018.755 © Bruce Davidson/Magnum Photos Bob Powers, seen here 50 years after Davidson spent the summer with the Jokers gang, grew up in a dysfunctional household, as did most of the gang members. Illiterate and alcoholic, he dropped out of school at 16, became addicted to drugs, and dealt them. At 40, homeless and near death, he detoxed and finally learned to read. He became a drug counselor and, around 1998, contacted Davidson and ended up writing a memoir. One of Bruce Davidson’s best-known series, Brooklyn Gang was inspired by a news story he read about a teenage gang.