The Harlem Renaissance is a genius. Roy DeCarava worked with Langston Hughes. Gordon Parks documents Civil Rights Movement. Dawoud Bey retraces The Underground Railroad. This collection of articles revisits a few pioneering Black Photographers who changed history, and a nation in the process.
Harlem through the eyes of James Van Der Zee
James Van Der Zee begins this series of spotlights on historical Black photographers in the United States with “Picture It: Harlem 1918.” James Van Der Zee opens Guarantee Photo Studio at 135 Street, just as Harlem Renaissance is bursting into life during the Great Migration.
Van Der Zee created elaborate tableaux in his studio using luxurious props and painted backdrops. He bathed the subjects in sumptuous light to give each photograph a painting-like touch.
Van Der Zee’s works allow us to return to Black America, a place of creativity, commerce, and capital fueled by a spirit of community, a generation of people moving north, searching for a better future, and discovering the magic of Central Park.