A Nimble Arc: James Van Der Zee and Photography

In A Nimble Arc, art historian Emilie Boone shifts focus from photographer James Van Der Zee’s renowned Harlem Renaissance work to his role in documenting and advancing “quotidian” Black American life.
Van Der Zee was born in 1886. His self-taught skills were augmented by his early training as a department store photography assistant. He maintained a studio in Harlem for decades, and throughout his long life, he photographed a range of notable Black figures, including Countee Cullen and Jean-Michel Basquiat. But beyond Van Der Zee’s portraits of writers, entertainers, and artists were his photographs of other Harlem residents, like an elegant woman posing by a piano with a white cat and a statuesque preacher known as the “Barefoot Prophet.” 
This talk will examine James Van Der Zee’s legacy in the context of twentieth-century Harlem.