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Image

James Van Der Zee

Nude, Harlem

Description

Maker

James Van Der Zee (American, 1886-1983)

Title

Nude, Harlem
James Van Der Zee: Eighteen Photographs

Year

1923, printed ca. 1973

Medium

  • gelatin silver print

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image/sheet: 23.8 x 18.7 cm (9 3/8 x 7 3/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed in pencil below the image on the mat at left:VI 23 / 75; at right:J. Van Der Zee

Credit / Object Number

Credit

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

Object Number

80.232.6

Type

  • Photographs

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 14: Shadows

The RISD Museum’s fourteenth issue of Manual shines a light on the shadow, centering the black body as a site of possibility, liberatory self-awareness, radical non-conformity, and joyful defiance. This issue serves as a companion to the exhibition Defying the Shadow.

Manual 14: Shadows opens with an excerpt on the shadow from W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk, followed by an introduction by Dr. Anita N. Bateman, who elucidates: “Operating in the shadow comes with a legacy of resistance, both in spiritual and ideological forms.”

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Defying the Shadow
Dec 01, 2020 – Dec 18, 2021
Changing Poses
The Artist's Model
Nov 12, 2010 – Jun 06, 2011

Label copy

This young woman sits in the studio of the pioneering African-American photographer James Van Der Zee, one of the principal portrait photographers to New York City’s black community during the 1920s and ’30s. Close examination reveals that the fireplace at which she gazes, as well as the stairwell behind her, are painted backdrop curtains designed to suggest a domestic space. Van Der Zee sometimes invited sitters to pose nude, as seen here, to create images for publication as calendar photographs. To ease concerns about nudity, his wife always assisted in undressing the models and remained present throughout the shoot. In this image, the young woman’s meditative expression suggest that we are witnessing an intensely private moment of reflection and psychic vulnerability, an elusive interiority that heightens her beauty and potential erotic appeal.

One Voice, Many Visions
Work By African American Artists
Feb 20, 1998 – Jun 14, 1998
African-American Art from the Permanent Collection
Nov 18, 1994 – Feb 19, 1995

Related Objects

Related Objects

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James Van Der Zee

James Van Der Zee: Eighteen Photographs

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Tombstone

James Van Der Zee (American, 1886-1983)
Nude, Harlem; James Van Der Zee: Eighteen Photographs, 1923, printed ca. 1973
Gelatin silver print
Image/sheet: 23.8 x 18.7 cm (9 3/8 x 7 3/8 inches)
Museum purchase with the aid of funds from the National Endowment for the Arts 80.232.6

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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