James Van Der Zee and Graphics International, Ltd., in cooperation with the Van DerZee Institute, New York

Black Jews, Harlem, 1929

1929, printed 1974

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James Van Der Zee and Graphics International, Ltd., in cooperation with the Van DerZee Institute, New York

Black Jews, Harlem, 1929

Artist: James Van Der Zee
Publishers: Graphics International, Ltd., in cooperation with the Van DerZee Institute, New York

Black Jews, Harlem, 1929

1929, printed 1974

Physical Qualities Gelatin silver print, Mount: 318 x 380 mm. (12 1/2 x 14 15/16 in.) Mount: 191 x 237 mm. (7 1/2 x 9 5/16 in.)

Portfolio/Series From the portfolio "James Van Der Zee: Eighteen Photographs"

Credit Line Saidie A. May Bequest Fund

Object Number 1975.22.13

During the 1920s and 1930s, portrait photographer James Van Der Zee captured the diversity of Black life in Harlem, a thriving neighborhood in New York City. In hundreds of photographs, Van Der Zee documented the social events of residents of all economic classes and religions, as seen here. Couple, Harlem, 1932 celebrates a wealthy young couple posing in sumptuous fur coats with their sparkling Cadillac. Members of the congregation of the Moorish Zionist Temple, which was founded in 1921, are depicted in Black Jews, Harlem, 1929.

The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1975; Graphics International, Ltd., Washington, D.C.

BMA, "Recent Acquisitions from the Museum's Photograph Collection," 14 June - 6 August, 1978; Traveling 1 September - 3 October, 1978.

BMA, "Harlem Views: Photographs by Aaron Siskind and James van der Zee," 2 December, 1986 - 1 March, 1987.

BMA, "The Face of America: Modernist Art, 1910-1950," 9 October - 29 December 1996.

BMA, American Wing rotation, November 29, 2022 - June 5, 2023.

Inscribed: RECTO:On mount, at lower left, in graphite: "XIII 28/75"; on mount, at lower right, in graphite: "J. Van Der Zee," VERSO: On mount, at lower right, in graphite:"Black Jews, Harlem, 1929"