Harlem Heyday: The Photography of James Van Der Zee. Portraits of the Harlem Community during the 1920s and 1930s
New York: Studio Museum in Harlem, 1982. 1st Edition. Small quarto, publisher’s stapled stiff photo-illustrated paper wraps.
Catalog published in conjunction with an exhibition dedicated to Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee, held at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1982. A foremost chronicler of Black life (he has been called the "eyes of Harlem"), Van Der Zee is best known for his posed studio portraits employing painted backdrops, parlor furniture, costumes, and a variety of props. Organized when Van Der Zee was returning to prominence as a major American photographer near the end of his life, the exhibition presented a selection of his studio and documentary photographs capturing the families, performers, social clubs, public figures, and fashionable natives from the Harlem Renaissance. Illustrated with twelve black-and-white plates; with text by Black artist, photographer, and curator Deborah Willis. Light soiling and edgewear to wraps. Very good. Item #13107
$150.00