James Van Der Zee

The Heiress, Harlem

Maker

James Van Der Zee (American, 1886-1983)

Title

The Heiress, Harlem
Eighteen Photographs

Year

1938, printed ca. 1973

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

silver print

Dimensions

18.4 x 23.6 cm (7 1/4 x 9 5/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed in pencil below the image on the mat below the image:XVII 23 / 75; at right:J. Van Der Zee; signed on negative, LL:Van Der Zee / NYC / ?

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum purchase with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts

Object Number

80.232.17

Type

Exhibition History

Past Made Present
Dutch Shadows in the Black Atlantic
Sep 03, 2022 – Aug 06, 2023

Label copy

For four decades of the 20th century, James Van Der Zee documented Harlem, a vibrant center of African American culture that was once the Dutch settlement Haarlem. While Miss Suzie Porter and Garveyite Family depict Black middle-class subjects in Harlem, The Heiress portrays a domestic worker who recently inherited the home, furnishings, and art collection of her wealthy white employer.

Van Der Zee photographed important figures from Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey (1887–1940) to artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988), but his main subjects were ordinary people, many of whom had come to Harlem from across the US, the Caribbean, and Africa in search of opportunity.

Keeping Warm
Dec 05, 1980 – Jan 25, 1981

Image use

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In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

James Van Der Zee (American, 1886-1983)
The Heiress, Harlem; Eighteen Photographs, 1938, printed ca. 1973
Gelatin silver print
18.4 x 23.6 cm (7 1/4 x 9 5/16 inches)
Museum purchase with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts 80.232.17

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