Collection comprises 42 gelatin silver prints of images taken in the first decades of the 20th century by James Van Der Zee, noted photographer based in Harlem, New York City. Many are portraits of well-known and ordinary African Americans in Harlem. There are also fictionalized settings and poses conveying hopes, dreams, and humorous situations, as well as views of parades, athletic teams, a Baptist group, a first-grade Harlem classroom, and the interior of Van Der Zee's studio. Subjects include an elegant couple in raccoon coats, a soldier, a female impersonator, a funerary portrait of a man in an open casket, Black Hebrews, Black Cross nurses, Marcus Garvey in regalia during a parade, entrepreneurs Madam C.J. Walker and her daughter A'Lelia, boxer Jack Johnson, and entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Included is a self-portrait of the photographer playing a violin, circa 1930. The photographs evoke the diverse and flourishing society of the Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s). An early portrait of Van Der Zee's first wife and daughter was taken around 1908, in Lenox, Massachusetts, his birthplace. Average print size is roughly 10 3/4 x 12 inches. Two are original vintage prints; the rest are exhibit prints created mostly in the 1980s from original negatives. Some prints are signed; all are titled and dated on the verso. Several bear the GGG Studio stamp at the 272 Lenox Avenue address. Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture at Duke University.
Collection comprises forty gelatin silver exhibit prints and two vintage prints of images taken in the first decades of the 20th century by James Van Der Zee, noted photographer based in Harlem, New York City. Many are portraits of well-known and ordinary African Americans in Harlem. There are fictionalized scenes and poses evoking hopes, dreams, and humorous situations, as well as views of the interior of Van Der Zee's studio, Harlem parades, a Baptist church building and its congregation, and a first-grade Harlem classroom. Included is a self-portrait of the photographer playing the violin, circa 1930. Other subjects include an elegant couple in raccoon coats; a 1923 soldier; the New York Black Giants baseball team; a female impersonator; a man in an open funeral casket with a superimposed poem extolling fatherhood; a group of African American Hebrews in front of the Moorish Zionist Temple; Marcus Garvey in regalia during a parade; a Garveyite with his son; entrepreneurs Madam C.J. Walker and her daughter A'Lelia in their "Dark Tower" salon with a large group of friends; boxer Jack Johnson; and a double exposure portrait of entertainer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The photographs evoke the diverse and flourishing society of the Harlem Renaissance; later images exhibit a certain optimism in spite of the looming Great Depression and its effects.
Prints are arranged in chronological order. The earliest images, from 1908, are of Van Der Zee's first wife and daughter, probably taken in Lenox, Massachusetts, Van Der Zee's birthplace, and a blacksmith, probably taken in Virginia, where Van der Zee spent some time before moving to New York.
The exhibit prints were created from original negatives chiefly from 1981-1983, under the supervision of James Van Der Zee until his passing in 1983. Others were printed around 1987 by his widow Donna Mussenden Van Der Zee. All prints bear titles, dates, edition information, and copyright on verso. Most are from runs of 250 limited edition prints created for various exhibits. Some are signed by the photographer.
The majority of the prints measure 10 x 12 inches (sheet dimensions); image sizes range from 10 1/8 x 8 to 10 x 2 5/8 inches.
Acquired as part of the John Hope Franklin Research Center for African and African American History and Culture at Duke University.