Read Comments by Educators    Add Your Comments  Title: Van Der Zee Photography Educator: Mary Jayne Landowski Educator Affiliation: n.a., MN Overview: The beautiful photographs of James Van Der Zee were “rediscovered” in 1967 during the research phase of “Harlem on My Mind,” a Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition in New York City. Van Der Zee had his own photography shop in Harlem for over fifty years, including during the 1920s when Harlem was the undisputed center of African American cultural life. He made, and carefully preserved, nearly 75,000 glass plates, negatives and prints of portraits and other work that depicts the romance, beauty and grace of famous and everyday American Americans. Students will learn about this important African American photographer and his life and times through looking at his work, reading about his life, and making their own photographic portraits. Grade Levels: 9-12 Subjects: Arts - Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Careers Reading Social Studies and History Lesson Goals: Students will: 1. Recognize James Van Der Zee as an outstanding photographer who documented and reflected life in Harlem during the 1920s. 2. Identify important aspects of Van Der Zee’s life and artwork. 3. Compose and shoot their own photographic portraits of people. Text & Materials: Biographical information and photographs of Van Der Zee: Haskins, Jim. James Van DerZee: the picture-takin' man. Trenton, N.J.: Africa World Press, 1991. (ISBN 0-865-43261-9) De Cock, Liliane and McGhee, Reginald. James Van Der Zee. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Morgan and Morgan, 1973. (ISBN 0-871-00039-3) Web links below which allow online viewing of Van DerZee’s photographs. - Cameras with film and light stands. Activities: 1. Review biographic information on Van Der Zee. James Van Der Zee was born on June 29, 1886, in Lenox, Massachusetts, but eventually settled permanently in New York City. When Van Der Zee was young, he practiced drawing, and became adapt at landscapes, but was not satisfied with his ability to draw human faces. He became interested in photography as a way to make images of people. He was almost completely self-taught, at first engaging in taking pictures of friends and community members as an avocation while he worked variously as busboy, waiter, elevator man, and musician. Series of early photographs he made of teachers and their classes, and of the Van Der Zee family and friends, show sensitivity and skill in using composition, light and detail, although throughout his life he remained almost completely unaware of the work of his contemporaries, such as Alfred Stieglitz and Lewis Hine. In 1915, he took his first official job in photography as a darkroom worker for a small concession in a department store. He sometimes substituted as a photographer when his employer wasn’t available and soon became skilled and very popular with his clients. Within a year, he opened his first studio, Guarantee Photos, on 135th Street in Harlem. He photographed a great diversity of people and community life in Harlem – rallies, parades, street scenes, athletic teams, women, weddings, funerals, family groupings. He acted as the official photographer of Marcus Garvey, one of the most important figures of the 1920s who helped to instill in African Americans a pride in their heritage and an interest in Africa. One of the hallmarks of Van Der Zee’s style is his interest in depicting his fellow African Americans as beautiful and dignified. Regina Perry, in the introductory notes to James Van Der Zee (by Liliane De Cock and Reginald McGhee, see above citation of the book), writes that “It was Van Der Zee’s romantic nostalgia which compelled him to lovingly protest his vast collection of negatives, prints and memorabilia which presently provides the most comprehensive photographic essay on Black existence in Harlem during the first half of the Twentieth Century.” 2. Look at examples of Van Der Zee photographs. Van Der Zee’s body of work includes images of his extended family, of his wife and children, of famous African Americans, such as Marcus Garvey, and of everyday people in Harlem. He also took memorial pictures of people who had died which was a common custom of the time. 3. Discuss the photographs, using these prompts: a.) Notice that Van Der Zee retouched and often added embellishments to his portraits of people. He created his own backdrops, drew in jewelry, brushed out wrinkles, and used multiple images by double printing so that small figures, flowers or even images of the subject were added to the original composition. Commenting on his photographs, Mr. Van Der Zee said: “I could always see beauty where it didn’t exist. And I figured, as long as they had two eyes and a nose and a mouth, why, I could improve on them. On some of them, you’d cut down the mouth or sharpen up the nose.” Compare what he was doing with today’s portraits, such as yearbook photos and graduation pictures. b.) Infant mortality was much higher at the time when Van Der Zee was working than now. He was often asked to take a picture of a loved one who had died to ease the grief of the family. In many of his sensitive portraits of children, he posed the body as if asleep, sometimes holding a beloved toy. In others, inserted angels or even a small picture of the child when alive. When asked why he put inserts into the pictured published in The Harlem Book of the Dead, Van Der Zee replied: “Well, I just put them in to take away the gruesomeness of the picture, to make it look more like ‘suffering little children to come unto me and I’ll give you rest.’ In some cases I put in biblical scriptures.” In Van Der Zee’s time, families often asked for photographs of loved ones who died. In present time, we often receive autopsy reports. What do you think of these customs? How would you describe the way Van Der Zee handled his job of photographing the dead? c.) Investigate the backgrounds that Van Der Zee himself often painted to enhance the portraits. Note his use of personal objects that he incorporates to make the photo tell more about the person. In a specific photograph or two, describe how he brings out the subject’s personality by the background and objects. 4. Assign students one or more of the following: a.) Take and develop your own black and white portraits, employing several of the techniques that Van Der Zee used, such as including objects that tell more about the model’s personality. b.) Take and develop some group photographs that go beyond the normal “line up” or action photos seen in yearbooks. Employ creative use of props and composition. Consider using in-school groups, such as classrooms, sports teams or clubs. c.) Take photographs that document a unique custom in your own family. Supplemental Resources: n.a. Web Links: http://blackhistory.eb.com/micro/727/91.html http://www.high.org/vanderzee.htm http://www.vpa.niu.edu/museum/vanderzee.html http://www.smith.edu/ams/vanderzee.html Posting Date: 2001-03-06 Comments: Read Educator Comments    Add Your Comments  Standards: View Minnesota Content Standards information

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