James VanDerZee (1886-1983) The Collection of Steven Yager

James VanDerZee (1886-1983) The Collection of Steven Yager

James VanDerZee (1886-1983)

James Van Der Zee was a Harlem photographer whose studio approach contrasted the photojournalistic style of Gordon Parks and the social realism of Aaron Siskind. His success was largely based on his portraits of middle-class black families in Harlem, which sought to convey a sense of dignity and self assurance in the sitter. It has been said that the successful recipe for a Van Der Zee image was equal part authentic pride of the sitter and equal part carefully constructed artifice—courtesy of the photographer. Author and activist Bell Hooks once said, “Unless we transform images of blackness, of black people, our ways of looking and our ways of being seen, we cannot make radical interventions that will fundamentally alter our situation.” James Van Der Zee believed that this was best accomplished by portraying a strong sense of self—the connection of the self with the family and the self with the community.

Van Der Zee grew up in Lenox, Massachusetts, a well known summer retreat for some of the wealthiest families in America at the turn of the 20th century-- the Carnegies, Westinghouses, and Morgans, to name a few. William Egberts, Van Der Zee’s maternal grandfather, had purchased land in Lenox in 1852. African American families came to Lenox seeking skilled labor positions, such as carpenters, butlers, or livery. John and Susan Van Der Zee, James’ parents, had six children. James’ interests as a child were music and photography, and he won his first camera as a prize for selling packets of ladies’ sachet powder. His first foray into taking pictures was a failure, but it piqued his interest further. He purchased his second camera from a mail order company when he was 14, from earnings from odd jobs. His second attempt proved much more fruitful. From 1900 to 1905, James learned basic photography skills such as exposure, development and printmaking, while taking mostly

portraits of family and friends. He supported his interest by working as a waiter at the Hotel Aspinwall, but was involved in an incident with a co-worker and was fired in 1905.

Van Der Zee’s father was working as a waiter at the Knickerbocker Trust Bank dining room in New York City at that time, so James decided to join him. Shortly after arriving, he met Kate L. Brown at a church fundraiser. They were married in 1907, when Kate became pregnant . She worked as a seamstress and James worked as an elevator operator for awhile, but decided to return to Lenox to have the baby, because of James’ extended family already being there to help. After their daughter, Rachel, was born, they decided to go visit Kate’s family in Phoebus, Virginia. Van Der Zee found the town very pleasant and they decided to stay. He was able to get a job at the Chamberlin Hotel, as he was an experienced waiter. Van Der Zee became aware of two nearby schools, the Hampton Institute and Whittier Preparatory Academy , the latter offering instruction in art and music. Van Der Zee enrolled in music classes at Whittier and he quickly became a skilled violinist. He also picked up his interest in photography. The new family only stayed less than six months, however, and then decided to return to New York City. Van Der Zee believed he could make a living there as a musician and photographer, and as a fallback plan, he had experience in several positions found at a hotel. When they settled on a place to live, however, it wasn’t in a familiar neighborhood—rather, they chose to live in a part of the city only recently occupied by African Americans—Harlem.

Kate was skeptical about James’ ambitions to open a photo studio for his primary source of income, although he did work in another photographer’s studio as a darkroom assistant and portrait pho-

tographer in Newark, New Jersey in 1915. The couple had ongoing marital problems and in 1916 Kate left and they were divorced. Soon after Kate’s departure, in 1917, he met Gaynella Greenlee and Gaynella was much more supportive of Van Der Zee’s goal to open a studio of his own. Together, they launched the Guarantee Photo Studio at 109 West 135th Street. Shortly after the studio opened, the United States entered World War I, and that turned out to mean big business for Van Der Zee. Soldiers were getting their portraits taken before leaving and after returning from the war, and families of the soldiers were also getting portraits taken to send to the soldiers abroad.

The 1920s and 1930s represented a different period stylistically for Van Der Zee. Images taken prior to 1920 were all about capturing the most accurate portrayal of the sitter as possible, but Van Der Zee adopted a more artistic approach for the following two decades. He introduced elaborate props and backdrops into the compositions, mimicking popular images from contemporary magazines— especially those dedicated to fashion and celebrity.

Van Der Zee “dressed” the subjects and created dramatic compositions. He also began to increase the darkroom manipulations of the negative, correcting flaws and even adding superimposed elements to convey a message or create a dramatic effect.

Van Der Zee’s reputation, as well as his business grew alongside the black middle class of Harlem.

Celebrities began hiring him to take their portraits, and the residents enlisted Van Der Zee to document their significant events, such as weddings, graduations, and funerals.

In 1924, Van Der Zee was commissioned as the official photographer of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

It was Van Der Zee’s responsibility to not simply document the activities of Garvey and the movement, but portray them in a strictly positive light.

Van Der Zee executed thousands of photographs of meetings and parades, some of which were made into a calendar.

Around 1930, they renamed the studio the GGG Photo Studio in a vague tribute to his wife’s name (Gaynella Greenlee). In 1943, James and Gaynella

decided to rent a 12 room house at 272 Lenox Avenue to expand their business. They believed the onset of World War II would boost business in the same way that the first war did. Two years later, in 1945, the couple formed the 272 Lenox Avenue Corporation and bought the building. It was an ambitious move which turned out to be tragic, because the increased business they had expected never came. In fact, due to the popularity of a more casual image and newly introduced manageable cameras, business plummeted. Van Der Zee’s aesthetic of the Victorian and Edwardian visual traditions was seen as antiquated and undesirable.

To make matters worse, many of the black middle class left Harlem in the 1950s for the Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn, and property values dropped and ghettos formed. Van Der Zee decided to try a different approach since he was unable to secure portrait commissions. He focused his advertising on photo restoration, hoping that the preservation of images from earlier decades would be a priority—but that also failed to produce a steady income.

The 1950s and 1960s were a tough time for the Van Der Zees. They had little money, had gone into considerable debt, and faced losing their home. In 1967, mostly by coincidence, a researcher named Reginald McGhee, working for the Metropolitan Museum, stumbled across Van Der Zee’s studio looking for photographs of Harlem from the 1920s and 1930s. It was decided that a number of Van Der Zee’s images would be blown up to mural-size and used in an exhibit entitled, Harlem on My Mind. Van Der Zee eventually received payment for the images, but the amount fell short of what he needed to save the home, and he was evicted. The exhibit itself was met with much criticism by black artists who felt the photographic documentation of Harlem was insufficient in representing the black artistic community as a whole (no other works of art by African American artists were exhibited).

Harlem on My Mind, while controversial, did raise the awareness of Van Der Zee’s work, and contributed to an eventual (limited) rebound of his career, although most of the deserved recognition of his work has come after his death. i

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Steven Yager

Steven Yager has been collecting photography for more than fifty years. He also organized and promoted photography shows for more than 35 years, including the New York City Photo Show. While a student at Ithaca College, he met Robert Yaasi, a fellow student from Ghana, West Africa. Fifty years later, they remain friends. “Because of my friendship with Bob, I learned what it was like for someone to come to Ithaca from another country and how different life is for black people in the United States.” Yager went on to earn his Master’s degree in Accounting and Special Education from Hofstra University, and later taught Social Studies and Special Education at the Fairfax County Public Schools.

Yager, and his former classmate and friend, Bob Yaasi later created the endowed, Yaasi-Yager Scholarship at Ithaca College for students from Africa and Asia. The two friends have traveled to Ghana together three times over the years.

Yager had a passion for collecting many categories of historical objects, including vintage photography, and as a subset of that, interracial and African American subject matter. In this endeavor, he learned of the work of a Harlem-based photog-

rapher, James Van Der Zee, and acquired several works by the artist, many of which are presented in this catalog.

In his teaching career in New York City and also Baltimore, he was tasked with teaching some children, the majority African American, who were from disadvantaged backgrounds. All of them were poor, some were violent, and several were gang members. He found, not surprisingly, these kids had little interest in reading about a history that had little or nothing to do with them. He discovered, however, that if the children were presented with an image, and they were left to write their own “history” about the image, they were dramatically more engaged. Their versions were perhaps equally or more valid than the traditional narrative, because it related directly to them on a personal level—it was their history. He saw this dynamic in image perception as an interesting learning tool, not just for his students, but for himself and everyone. An alternative history may be revealed in a photograph to what is commonly taught, and that “option” creates a more objective narrative on one hand, while maintaining a personal connection to each and every viewer on the other. i

Plates

135th & Lenox Ave. NYC, c. 1910; 3-1/2 x 4-1/4 inches.

VanDerZee and Gaynella opened the Guarantee Photo Studio at 135th & Lenox (109 W. 135th) in 1917.

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Lenox Ave. NYC, c. 1910; 5 x 7 inches.

This image, likely taken immediately preceding or during WWI, was either developed or remained in inventory for some time, as it is stamped verso, G.G.G. Photo Studio, 272 Lenox Ave.

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G.G.G. Photo Studio, c. 1943, 10 x 8-1/4 inches. i The G.G.G. Photo Studio at 272 Lenox Ave.

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Studio Portrait of a Violinist, c. 1933; 9-1/8 x 6-7/8 inches.

The Guarantee Photo Studio relocated to a former Chrysler automobile showroom in 1930. This image bears a blind stamp from the 109 W. 135th St. location, but the stamp on verso is from the 1930’s location - 2065 7th Ave.

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Studio Portrait of Three Musicians, 1938; 8 x 10 inches.

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Studio Portrait of Two Men at the Piano, 1948; 10 x 8 inches.

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Studio Portrait of an Elegant Gentleman, 1927; 10 x 8 inches.

Taken at the height of VanDerZee’s career, this sitter, confident and impeccably dressed, exemplifies the look of self-assurance VanDerZee sought to portray in the black middle class in Harlem.

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Studio Portrait of Four Gentlemen at the Piano, 1934; 10 x 8 inches.

Noted in pencil verso: Fred Tunstall, piano and Eubie wants this Eubie Blake (1887-1983) was a composer and pianist of ragtime, jazz and popular music. He and Noble Sissle wrote Shuffle Along , one of first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans, in 1921. Blake played with Tunstall on occasion.

There was a fellow named Fred Tunstall‌He was a real dandy. I remember he had a Norfolk coat with eighty-two pleats in the back. When he sat at the piano, he’d slump a little in a half hunch, and those pleats would fan out real pretty. His playing was fair, but he had a reputation of being one of our most elegant dressers. He had thirtyfive suits of clothes.

Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, edited by Nathan Irvin Huggins.

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Studio Portrait of A Woman With a Drum and a Man Balancing a Coronet, 1924; 8-1/2 x 5-3/4 inches.

This image illustrates VanDerZee’s skill and compostion and his innovative printmaking.

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Studio Portrait of Four Gentlemen, 1928; 8 x 10 inches.

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Studio Portrait of a Couple, 1928; 10 x 8 inches.

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Studio Portrait of a man at the piano, c. 1940s; 7 x 5 inches.

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G.G.G. Photo Studio Advertisement, c. 1943; 5-/12 x 3-1/2 inches.

As VanDerZee’s photography business declined in the 1940s, he attempted to bolster his income by providing photo restoration services.

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Marcus Garvey Parade, 1924; 5 x 7 inches.

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Marcus Garvey Parade, c. 1924; 8 x 10 inches; inscribed verso, Cor 124th St & 7th Avenue.

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