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Artworks

On the Town, 1929

  • Artist

    James Van Der Zee

  • Title

    On the Town

  • Date

    1929

  • Medium

    Gelatin silver print

  • Dimensions

    6 1/2 × 4 1/2 in. (16.5 × 11.4 cm) Frame: 17 3/4 × 14 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (45.1 × 37.5 × 3.2 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of The Sandor Family Collection, Chicago

  • Object Number

    2000.11.3

Moving to New York in 1906, James Van Der Zee became a sought-after photographer in the 1920s, capturing the elegance of his primarily middle-class Black subjects through the use of intricate props and backdrops. Here, the illusionistic backdrop of a dignified parlor combined with the man’s crisp white tuxedo and top hat suggest he is on his way to a fashionable banquet or club. The image exemplifies Van Der Zee’s fondness for the Victorian painting tradition, where artists would present sitters in the foreground of whimsical and decorative environments.


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Artworks

On the Town, 1929

  • Artist

    James Van Der Zee

  • Title

    On the Town

  • Date

    1929

  • Medium

    Gelatin silver print

  • Dimensions

    6 1/2 × 4 1/2 in. (16.5 × 11.4 cm) Frame: 17 3/4 × 14 3/4 × 1 1/4 in. (45.1 × 37.5 × 3.2 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of The Sandor Family Collection, Chicago

  • Object Number

    2000.11.3

Moving to New York in 1906, James Van Der Zee became a sought-after photographer in the 1920s, capturing the elegance of his primarily middle-class Black subjects through the use of intricate props and backdrops. Here, the illusionistic backdrop of a dignified parlor combined with the man’s crisp white tuxedo and top hat suggest he is on his way to a fashionable banquet or club. The image exemplifies Van Der Zee’s fondness for the Victorian painting tradition, where artists would present sitters in the foreground of whimsical and decorative environments.


Explore further