For more than six decades, Van Der Zee chronicled Black life in Harlem, where he operated a successful portrait studio. During the 1920s and ’30s, against the backdrop of Harlem’s thriving intellectual, cultural, and creative scene, Van Der Zee developed a signature style of glamorous portraiture. Aiming to craft photographs that were “better-looking than the person,” often through retouching, he claimed to put his “heart and soul” into conveying the personalities of individual sitters. His photographs, which also include group portraits of social and religious organizations, remain some of the most important documents of the individuals and communities that animated Harlem during the twentieth century.
Gallery label from 2024