Artist Franz Jantzen

The DC Barber Center (Portrait of Aaron E. Whittaker and Luther M. Upson)

Date2013

MediumArchival pigment ink print mounted on aluminum

Dimensions43 × 65 in. (109.2 × 165.1 cm) Framed Size: 48 × 69 in. (121.9 × 175.3 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2016.019.2

ClassificationsPhotographs

Locations

EOM, Special Advisor (1350 Penn Ave NW, 3rd Floor)

DescriptionAaron E. Whitaker was born in North Carolina in 1931 and attended a barber college in nearby Durham. After serving in the Army in Korea he moved north to Washington, DC. In 1969, he bought 3817 14th Street, NW and established the DC Barber Center. It operated as both a school and barbershop, and Whitaker mentored many students over the years. In 2009, the DC City Council passed Ceremonial Resolution 18-113 in honor of his 40th year in business. I gathered the snapshots for this piece over several visits in spring 2013. Mr. Whitaker and Luther Michael Upson, who owns the Elite Wushu Martial Arts Academy in Silver Spring, let me take additional snapshots of the two of them during Mr. Upson’s weekly haircut. Mr. Upson had been getting haircuts from Mr. Whitaker since the early 1970s, when he was about eight years old. Mr. Whitaker passed away in May 2018. In February 2021 the building was torn down and replaced by new condominiums.