What is it about?
The article positions VanDerZee's photography in relation to debates about black identity and culture. In particular, I argue that VanDerZee's images provide a visual counterpart to and representation of the figure of the New Negro, associated with influential thinker W.E.B. DuBois. In this way, VanDerZee's photographs challenged the degrading images of black people that had long been circulating in American culture.
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Photo by The New York Public Library on Unsplash
Why is it important?
The article adds to the not particularly extensive literature on James VanDerZee, a photographer whose work was at one point heavily criticised but whose work is now lauded for its skill and virtuosity.
Perspectives
This article came out of a conference paper that I was due to deliver at Liverpool University for a conference on Afromodernism. It's the article that really marks the beginning of my interest in writing about visual culture and photography.
Dr Russell White
University of the Arts London
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: James VanDerZee’s New Negro vision, European Journal of American Culture, June 2017, Intellect,
DOI: 10.1386/ejac.36.2.121_1.
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