VanDerZee: Photographer 1886-1983
VanDerZee was the first 20th-century African American photographer to achieve commercial success and fame. Between the wars, he ran a photography studio in Harlem, where he documented the famous and the everyday of the Harlem Renaissance more thoroughly than any other photographer. Thanks to the inclusion of some of his images in the 1969 Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition "Harlem on My Mind," he was rediscovered at age 83, living in poverty in Harlem. Before he died, he again took up the camera to photograph many prominent African Americans, including Muhammad Ali, Romare Bearden, and Bill Cosby. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, this first major survey of his work in 20 years presents a full retrospective in high-quality reproductions. Willis-Braithwaite ( Black Photographers, 1840-1988 , 1985) and Birt (humanities, San Francisco State Univ.) provide excellent essays tracing VanDerZee's life and work, while detailed captions accompany the photos. Highly recommended for photography and African American studies collections.- Kathleen Collins, New York Transit Museum Archives, BrooklynCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.