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Artists have always assumed a special and essential role: preserving human history.
This article will explore the life and works of one of the most profound photographers ever to walk the surface of the Earth: James Van Der Zee.
The Life of James Van Der Zee
On June 29, 1886, a baby was born in Lenox, Massachusetts. Little did anyone know, this baby would later become a key figure in chronicling the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 1930s. This baby was named James Van Der Zee.
As a child, Van Der Zee had a natural talent for music and aspired to be a professional violinist. However, his passion for photography propelled him into the ranks of the greats.
In his teenage years, Van Der Zee acquired his first camera and set up a darkroom in his parents' house. He spent most of his time taking hundreds of photographs of his family and his hometown, Lenox.
This hobby caught on and eventually led him to a career as a darkroom assistant in 1913. Later in 1916, he and his wife, Gaynella Greenlee, founded their own business, Guarantee Photo Studio, on West 125th Street in Harlem.
During World War I, his company grew, and the portraits he photographed from that time until 1945 received the most critical acclaim.
Later, his business began to dwindle due to many of his customers' financial difficulties and partly due to the growing popularity of personal cameras, which lowered the demand for professional photography.
Van Der Zee compensated by taking passport shots, photo restorations, and other freelance work in photography, a practice he would do for the next two decades.
The Works of James Van Der Zee
Van Der Zee's work is both artistic and technically proficient.
Joining the ranks of his most notable works, Van Der Zee captured the distinguished personalities of middle-class African-American families and celebrities. These subjects include Marcelino Manuel da Graça or "Daddy Grace," Mamie Smith, and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
Although already gaining considerable attention, it was only in 1969 when Van Der Zee gained worldwide acclaim and recognition when his works were featured in the Harlem on My Mind Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
This story traces a few years back in December 1967, when Reginald McGhee, a young photographer, found Van Der Zee's studio while researching the controversial Harlem on My Mind show.
McGhee was shown boxes and negatives from the 1920s and 1930s that Van Der Zee had preserved. These pictures would become the centerpiece of Harlem on My Mind and the aspect of the exhibition that critics hailed as its most significant revelation. For many, Van Der Zee was a witness and a huge player in the Harlem Renaissance.
Keeping the Van Der Zee Legacy
James Van Der Zee's work is still highly regarded by photographers and photo historians today, and it has attracted attention far beyond his Harlem neighborhood. His images have also become an interesting subject of books and documentaries to honor him and keep his legacy alive.
While artists record and preserve our human history, their art also records and preserves theirs. Van Der Zee's works not only emphasize his genius but his rich history of becoming one of the best the art world has ever known.
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