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Generations in Black and White: Photographs from the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection
This portfolio of eighty-three photographs constitutes a stunning celebration of African American achievement in the twentieth century. Carl Van Vechten, a longtime patron of black writers and artists, took these photographs over the course of three decades—primarily as gifts to his subjects, such luminaries as W. E. B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Joe Louis, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Ruby Dee, Lena Horne, and James Earl Jones.
The photographs Rudolph P. Byrd has selected for this volume come from the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters, which Van Vechten established at Yale University. Byrd has arranged the images chronologically, according to the time at which each subject emerged as a vital presence in African American tradition.
Complementing the photographs are a substantial introduction by Byrd, biographical sketches of each subject, and poems by the noted writer Michael S. Harper. The result is a volume of beauty and power, a record of black excellence that will engage and inform new generations.
The photographs Rudolph P. Byrd has selected for this volume come from the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters, which Van Vechten established at Yale University. Byrd has arranged the images chronologically, according to the time at which each subject emerged as a vital presence in African American tradition.
Complementing the photographs are a substantial introduction by Byrd, biographical sketches of each subject, and poems by the noted writer Michael S. Harper. The result is a volume of beauty and power, a record of black excellence that will engage and inform new generations.
- GenresPhotography
200 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1993
About the author
Carl van Vechten
107 books26 followersCarl van Vechten (B.A., University of Chicago, 1903) was a photographer, music-dance critic, novelist, and patron of the Harlem Renaissance who served as literary executor for Gertrude Stein.
Van Vechten was among the most influential literary figures of the 1910s and 1920s. He began his career in journalism as a reporter, then in 1906 joined The New York Times as assistant music critic and later worked as its Paris correspondent. His early reviews are collected in Interpreters and Interpretations (1917 and 1920) and Excavations: A Book of Advocacies (1926). His first novel, Peter Whiffle (1922), a first-person account of the salon and bohemian culture of New York and Paris and clearly drawn from Van Vechten's own experiences, and was immensely popular. His most controversial work of fiction is Nigger Heaven (1926), notable for its depiction of black life in Harlem in the 1920s and its sympathetic treatment of the newly emerging black culture.
In the 1930s, Van Vechten turned from fiction to photography. His photographs are in collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and elsewhere. An important literary patron, he established the James Weldon Johnson Collection of Negro Arts and Letters at Yale.
Van Vechten was among the most influential literary figures of the 1910s and 1920s. He began his career in journalism as a reporter, then in 1906 joined The New York Times as assistant music critic and later worked as its Paris correspondent. His early reviews are collected in Interpreters and Interpretations (1917 and 1920) and Excavations: A Book of Advocacies (1926). His first novel, Peter Whiffle (1922), a first-person account of the salon and bohemian culture of New York and Paris and clearly drawn from Van Vechten's own experiences, and was immensely popular. His most controversial work of fiction is Nigger Heaven (1926), notable for its depiction of black life in Harlem in the 1920s and its sympathetic treatment of the newly emerging black culture.
In the 1930s, Van Vechten turned from fiction to photography. His photographs are in collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and elsewhere. An important literary patron, he established the James Weldon Johnson Collection of Negro Arts and Letters at Yale.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 4, 2022
This book “Generations in Black and White: Photographs from the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection" by Rudolph P. Byrd (Editor) and Carl Van Vechten peers into the life of eccentric twentieth-century figure Carl Van Vechten and his peculiar work featuring Black American figures through his camera lens.
An American writer and amateur photographer, he was a spirited champion of the Harlem Renaissance movement. What drew me to this book was Van Vechten exuberance, some would say, odd objectification of Black Americans as a white man.
The genesis of Van Vechtin’s interest in Black culture was the upbringing of his parents, Amanda Fitch and Charles Duane Van Vechten, who raised him in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His father was the co-founder of the Piney Woods School, a primary and secondary school for Black youth nestled in rural Mississippi.
When Van Vechten relocated to New York City in 1906 after a stint in Chicago, he brought with him a fervent interest in Black arts and culture. This would serve as the catalyst for his immersion in the Harlem Renaissance infused Black cultural movement at that time, where he built friendships with many prominent Black Americans.
It was here where he began writing reviews covering Black theater, dance, and music as a critic for the New York Press and the New York Times. A key inflection point in his engagement with the Black community was his formal introduction in 1924 to prominent Black lawyer and NAACP leader Walter White.
Over time he developed a fervent love for photography that eventually supplanted his work as a writer. His West Fifty-Fifth Street apartment, where his subjects “came—still by invitation only to sit before his camera eye,” featured a darkroom.
From 1932 until his passing, Van Vechten set out to capture through his camera the evolving face of Black American culture. Highlighting this theme, the book provides eighty-three stunning photographs of Black American figures produced by Van Vechten over the course of three decades.
His photographs were provided as gifts to his subjects, which included such notable luminaries singer and actor Harry Belafonte; heavyweight boxing champion Joe Lewis; singer and dancer Josephine Baker; intellectual and humanitarian W.E.B. DuBois; educator Mary McLeod Bethune; cultural critic Alain Locke; actor and composer Noble Sisley; novelist and librarian Nella Larson; journalist and humanitarian Roy Wilkins; and folklorist and novelist Zora Neale Larsen.
Each of the photographs contains a biographical profile of each subject along with poems offered by the noted writer Michael S. Harper. The result is an exquisitely delivered portfolio of Black historical excellence that will inform future generations for years to come.
An American writer and amateur photographer, he was a spirited champion of the Harlem Renaissance movement. What drew me to this book was Van Vechten exuberance, some would say, odd objectification of Black Americans as a white man.
The genesis of Van Vechtin’s interest in Black culture was the upbringing of his parents, Amanda Fitch and Charles Duane Van Vechten, who raised him in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His father was the co-founder of the Piney Woods School, a primary and secondary school for Black youth nestled in rural Mississippi.
When Van Vechten relocated to New York City in 1906 after a stint in Chicago, he brought with him a fervent interest in Black arts and culture. This would serve as the catalyst for his immersion in the Harlem Renaissance infused Black cultural movement at that time, where he built friendships with many prominent Black Americans.
It was here where he began writing reviews covering Black theater, dance, and music as a critic for the New York Press and the New York Times. A key inflection point in his engagement with the Black community was his formal introduction in 1924 to prominent Black lawyer and NAACP leader Walter White.
Over time he developed a fervent love for photography that eventually supplanted his work as a writer. His West Fifty-Fifth Street apartment, where his subjects “came—still by invitation only to sit before his camera eye,” featured a darkroom.
From 1932 until his passing, Van Vechten set out to capture through his camera the evolving face of Black American culture. Highlighting this theme, the book provides eighty-three stunning photographs of Black American figures produced by Van Vechten over the course of three decades.
His photographs were provided as gifts to his subjects, which included such notable luminaries singer and actor Harry Belafonte; heavyweight boxing champion Joe Lewis; singer and dancer Josephine Baker; intellectual and humanitarian W.E.B. DuBois; educator Mary McLeod Bethune; cultural critic Alain Locke; actor and composer Noble Sisley; novelist and librarian Nella Larson; journalist and humanitarian Roy Wilkins; and folklorist and novelist Zora Neale Larsen.
Each of the photographs contains a biographical profile of each subject along with poems offered by the noted writer Michael S. Harper. The result is an exquisitely delivered portfolio of Black historical excellence that will inform future generations for years to come.
November 4, 2016
used hardcover library book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews