“Photography During the Harlem Renaissance: James Van Der Zee’s Works as a Keystone in Its Blooming” – Khawla Kacem

The development of the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem in New York City as a Black cultural Mecca in the early 20th Century led to an artistic explosion.  It was a golden age in African American culture, which manifested itself in literature, music, stage performance, and photography. The movement was based on an intellectual and cultural revival in all fields. It was a time for cultural celebration and identity restoration after enduring centuries of slavery and struggle for abolition. It was originally called the New Negro Movement and there were similar artistic and social developments in other large Northern cities, including Chicago, Boston, and Washington DC. Art and photography, in particular, were the best paths taken by black Americans to overcome racism and prove their existence in a white-dominated culture. Photography, as a visual art, captured Harlem daily life and along with the other art forms changed how African Americans were perceived throughout the world, and gave them a new sense of pride and a growing commitment to political activism. James Van Der Zee was one of Harlem’s prominent figures during this stimulating time. His photographs reflected the aspirational lifestyle of the emergent black middle class and the various religious and sporting organizations that permeated the Harlem neighborhood and played a crucial role in developing black culture. In doing so, Van Der Zee challenged prevailing stereotypes of African Americans. His photographs circulated within American popular culture and worldwide and helped to change the way African Americans were viewed in the United States. In this research paper, I conduct a close observation of two of his photographs that provide opportunities to learn about this fascinating era with more focus on the black community. First, though, I begin with an introduction to Van Der Zee’s life and work.

Van Der Zee began taking photographs during his adolescence in his hometown of Lenox, Massachusetts. While in his twenties, he immersed himself in a number of different jobs and lived in several different cities, including New York City and Phoenix, Virginia. He came back to New York City in 1908 and worked intermittently as a musician and music teacher. As a painter, he believed that “he was most successful at painting landscapes but could never get faces to look right” (Antal 2016). His realization of this pushed him to challenge himself and spark a creative interest in photography. In 1915, he moved to New Jersey where he had his first professional job in photography as a darkroom assistant and occasional portrait photographer. By 1916, he was ready to launch his own business. Moving to Harlem, he opened the Guarantee Photo studio which served the local African American community. When the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, demand for his services increased significantly. Parents wanted photographs of their enlisted sons headed overseas and sons wanted photographs of loved ones to take with them. When Van Der Zee established his photographic studio in 1916, a half century had passed since the end of the Civil War. The number of African Americans in the middle and upper classes had increased dramatically, especially as the Great Migration drew thousands of them to northern cities.

During the Harlem Renaissance Van Der Zee shot the outstanding Black figures. Before his success which started from 1969, he worked in obscurity for almost two decades taking passport and identity photos, military photos, and doing other assorted photography jobs (Watson, 2019). Then the “Harlem on Mind” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art appeared to represent the turning point of his career. The story was as follows: In that year Reggie McGhee, the director of photographic research for the “Harlem on Mind” exhibition, was scrolling the city’s streets seeking photographs for the exhibition. When he saw Van Der Zee’s collection, which portrayed the particularities of the era, he was amazed and felt that there was no need to go further (Williams College Museum of Arts, 2019). In fact, his photographs were on most of the walls and succeeded in attracting visitors. From that moment, Van Der Zee became a famous photographer in great demand until he reached the scale of a worldwide recognition. His photographs have been added to the large national and private collections of several outstanding institutions and art galleries. He was also invited to the White House where he was awarded “The Living Legacy”. Besides, an Institute which bears his name was founded by Reggie McGhee and Charles Innis to preserve his works for future generations and keep him alive in every memory. A number of books illustrating his works have been published, such as The World of James Van Der Zee and James Van Der Zee, and he won the American Society Magazine Photographers’ Award, among plenty of honors (Williams College Museum of Arts, 2019).

Van Der Zee’s masterpieces served as a documentation of the significant socio-cultural events in Harlem. However, he was also interested in and highly acclaimed for his portraits that reflected the emergent black middle class’s lifestyle and the different religious and sporting organizations they joined (Smithsonian Amerian Art Museum, 2019). According to the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum Website, his studio portraits “represent a fascinating repertoire of poses and settings, often affected with painted backdrops, which he created himself” (2017). Among his prominent works that have been a subject for popular interpretation, one can take a glance on the portrait of the “Couple, Harlem” released in 1932 (Fig.1).

Fig.1 : “Couple, Harlem”, 1932
Gelatin silver print; printed 1974
7 3/4 x 9 3/8 inches
(© National Gallery of Art, Washington DC)

It was a black and white photo taken by James Vander Zee, printed on a gelatin silver and exposed in the National Gallery of Art (Whashington DC). It depicted a nicely dressed couple seeming to be upper-class people. Both the man and the woman appear to be elegant, glamourous, and graceful in their appearance. Their attractive, dashing look suggests sophistication and wealth. Vander Zee’s camera lens fail to capture their fur-made coats, which were a trendsetting fashion impressing everyone during that period. They were also wearing expensive accessories. Indeed, the hats that cover their heads evoke their power, authority, and nobility and Madam’s sparking stiletto heels reflect her high social stature and refined fashionable taste. Their Cadillac, a successful car model sold from 1930 to 1940, is the icon of the portrait, as it is centered in its heart and seems to be customized for its owner. Van Der Zee opted for the eye level angle to take his shot. The aim was to make his camera point straight ahead showing the couple’s entire bodies in frame, from their heads to their toes. This technique gives a better sense of the couple’s surroundings and conveys details that could be ignored in a close-up. The photographer eventually succeeded somehow in capturing the whole urban background setting of the 127th residential street in Harlem, New York, where these clients decided to pose. Printed in 1974, the portrait’s glossy paint and its gleaming chrome echoes the couple’s serenity and luxurious life and celebrates the emergence of the African American middle and upper classes in the neighborhood of Harlem.

          I tried to see that every picture was better looking than the person – if it wasn’t better looking than the person I was taking, then I wasn’t satisfied with it … I would figure out the best angle to try to get as much light and expression and character into the picture as possible. I tried to pose each person in such a way as to tell a story.

– James Van Der Zee, The World of James Van Der Zee: A Visual Record of Black Americans, Grove Press, 1969

In this respect, the following case study portrait, entitled “Nude, Harlem”, produced in 1923 (fig.2), showed his already shaped skills in terms of storytelling through photography.

Fig.2 : “Nude, Harlem” 1923
Gelatin Silver Print
23.8 x 18.7 cm (9 3/8 x 7 3/8 inches)
(© National Gallery of Art, Washington)

It was a vintage-effect portrait of a thin naked young girl sitting in front of a burning fireplace. She was captured from the POV or the point-of-view shot allowing us to see her whole body, what she was looking at, and what she felt. For this static shot, Van Der Zee chose the Dutch angle to show her beautiful physical particularities such as her attractive breast and her bare legs. He also gave the impression that the walls of the house, on which her silhouette was shaded, and the sizzling fire are closing in. The photo is endowed with a special effect thanks to the darkroom manipulation. Her fine and sculpted face was lighted up, giving the viewer an insight into her deep emotions. In fact, sorrow, despair, and loss are drawn on her baby-face. Engaging, she resorted to the traditional masonry fireplace in which she found coziness, security, and warmth against the coldness of the cruel world. Fleshed by heat, the young woman appears to represent femininity and delicateness. Indeed, she could be the portrayal of Bill Allen’s coined phrase in 1950 “Black is Beautiful”. Black women, it is inferred, should embrace their skin color, hair texture and facial traits and consider these features as the epitome of beauty. Although, the portrait was racially and culturally specific, all women would appreciate the fact of being invited to struggle against the pre-existing stereotypic standards of beauty.

To conclude, the distinguished twentieth-century works of the African American photographer James Van Der Zee furnished a record of life in the Harlem neighborhood that had a significant influence on American culture as a whole and brought him into the limelight. His soft-edged portraits, in particular, gained success as they were refined and sophisticatedly produced, proving his divine gift and sharp skills and serving as stepping stones to his worldwide fame.

Khawla Kacem – Master 1 Etudes anglophones

Bibliographie

• ANTAL Lara, James Van Der Zee, Cavendish Square Publishing, 2016.
• ENGLISH Daylanne K., Unnatural Selections : Eugenics Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance, The University of North Carolina Press, 2004.
  
• BERKSHIRE MUSEUM, “James Van Der Zee: Photographing the Harlem Renaissance: Berkshire Museum”, https://explore.berkshiremuseum.org/digital-archive/james-van-der-zee-photographing-the-harlem-renaissance, consulté le 30/06/2022.
• WATSON, Elwood. “James Van Der Zee (1886-1983)”, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/van-der-zee-james-1886-1983/, consulté le 30/06/2022
• SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSUEM , “James Vanderzee”, https://americanart.si.edu/artist/james-vanderzee-6593, consulté le 30/06/2022
  
• WILLIAMS COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ARTS, “James Van Der Zee”, https://artmuseum.williams.edu/collection/featured-acquisitions/james-van-der-zee/, consulté le 30/06/2022