Holdings Information

Bibliographic Record Display

• Author/Creator:Van Der Zee, James, 1886-1983.
  
• Title:Eighteen photographs, 1905-1938.
  
• Published/Created:Washington, D.C. : Graphics International, 1974.
  
• Physical Description:1 portfolio (18 photographic prints) : b & w ; 24.1 x 19.1 cm. and smaller on mounts 38.1 x 31.6 cm.
  

• Yale Holdings

  Holdings Record Display

  • Location:BEINECKE (Non-Circulating)
    Request for Use in the Beinecke Reading Room
    
    
  • Call Number: JWJ MSS 44
    
  • Status:Not Checked Out
    

   
• Notes:Signed in pencil on mounts by the photographer.
  No. 8 from an edition of 75 copies.
  Sixteen of the photographs were printed from the original negatives; two photographs were printed from negatives made from vintage prints for which the negatives were lost.
  Purchased from the William Reese Company on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2008.
  
• Biographical / Historical note:James Van Der Zee (1886-1983) was an African American photographer and a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance, best known for his portraits of African Americans in New York City.
  Richard Benson (born 1943) is a photographer and printer specializing in production of fine photographic books and a dean of the Yale University School of Art from 1996 to 2006.
  Regenia Alfreda Perry (born 1941) is an art historian, a leading authority on African American art, and was a friend of James Van Der Zee.
  
• Summary:Portfolio of eighteen mounted photographs, including one photograph with two images, created by James Van Der Zee, 1905-1938, printed by Richard Benson in 1974 and distributed by Graphics International with an introduction and portfolio by Regenia Alfreda Perry. The images chiefly depict portraits of African American individuals, couples, and groups in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, New York.
  Portraits of identified individuals include Bishop Charles Manuel (Sweet Daddy) Grace, as well as several portraits that depict members of the Van Der Zee family. Portraits of men in the Van Der Zee family include his father, John Van Der Zee; his brothers, Walter Van Der Zee and John Van Der Zee; and a self-portrait. Images of women in the Van Der Zee family include his first wife, Kate Brown Van Der Zee; their daughter, Rachel Van Der Zee; and his cousin Suzie Porter. Several portraits identify individuals by their occupation, including a dancer and an actor, or by activities, such as sunbathers in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
  Portraits of groups include a class of African American children at the Whittier Preparatory School in Phoebus, Virginia; Marcus Garvey and a group of men on the review stand of a parade of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Harlem, and members of the Garvey Militia, a paramilitary unit of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, probably at the same parade; and members of the Moorish Zionist Temple of the Moorish Jews in Harlem, including Rabbi Israel Ben Newman and temple president, Mordecai Herman.
  
• Format:Visual Material
• Cite as:James Van Der Zee, Eighteen Photographs, 1905-1938. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
  
• Subjects:Garvey, Marcus, 1887-1940--Portraits.
  Grace, Daddy, 1882?-1960--Portraits.
  Van Der Zee family--Pictorial works.
  Van Der Zee, James, 1886-1983.
  Moorish Zionist Temple of the Moorish Jews in Harlem--Pictorial works.
  Universal Negro Improvement Association--Pictorial works.
  Whittier Preparatory School (Phoebus, Va.)--Pictorial works.
  African American Jews--Pictorial works.
  African American photographers--New York (State)--New York.
  African Americans--Portraits.
  African Americans--Pictorial works.
  African Americans--Religion--Pictorial works.
  African Americans--Social life and customs--Pictorial works.
  Black Hebrews--Pictorial works.
  Harlem Renaissance--Pictorial works.
  Portrait photography.
  Preparatory school students--Pictorial works.
  Women dancers--Pictorial works.
  Harlem (New York, N.Y.)--Social life and customs--Pictorial works.
  New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs--Pictorial works.
  
• Genre/Form:Gelatin silver prints.
  Photographic prints.
  Portfolios.
  
• Also listed under:Benson, Richard, 1943-
  Perry, Regenia Alfreda, 1941-