Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)

“The most important aspect of Van Der Zee’s imagery is that he always depicted his fellow Afro-American with beauty, dignity and grace,” writes Regenia Perry in her introductory text included with the present portfolio of works. “He is an artist with an eye for beauty and an insistence upon improving nature in order to attain the ideal.” Collectively, Van Der Zee’s Portfolio of Eighteen Photographs (1905–38) spans the important photographer’s influential career, from early images created in Phoebus, Virginia, and family portraits to his famed prints showing the vibrant cultural life of Harlem in the 1920s and 30s. Van Der Zee became well-known for his work after a young photographer, Reginald McGhee, encountered his studio while doing research for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 1969 exhibition Harlem on My Mind. The present collection was printed in 1974 at the behest of Richard Benson, former dean of the Yale School of Art, representing a renewed public interest in African American life and representation in the U.S.