Label Text
Carl Van Vechten is probably best known as a writer, man about town, and bon vivant, but, in recent years, growing attention has been paid to his work as a photographer. While Van Vechten took thousands of portraits of celebrities, artists, literati, friends, and lovers over the course of his lifetime, none of his photographs were sold or exhibited while he was alive. Van Vechten learned to take photographs in the 1890s as a teenager in Cedar Rapids, IA with his family’s box camera, a type of simple rectangular camera that was first released by Kodak in 1888 and widely adopted by amateurs. Around 1930, Van Vechten learned about a new, lightweight Leica camera that allowed amateurs to more easily take crisp images on the go. His interest in photography quickly became an obsession, and he turned a room in his New York apartment into a studio and darkroom where he would invite the glittering stars of the day.
Published ReferencesWhite, Edward,"The Tastemaker: Carl Van Vechten and the Birth of Modern America", United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
Bernard, Emily, "Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance: A Portrait in Black and White". Ukraine: Yale University Press, 2012.
Van Vechten, Carl, Darryl Pinckney, Richard Benson, Thomas Palmer, Eakins Press Foundation, and James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters (Yale University). 2015, ‘"O, Write My Name’ : American Portraits, Harlem Heroes", Edited by Peter Kayafas and Leslie George Katz, [New edition]. New York: Eakins Press Foundation, 2015.
Published ReferencesWhite, Edward,"The Tastemaker: Carl Van Vechten and the Birth of Modern America", United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014.
Bernard, Emily, "Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance: A Portrait in Black and White". Ukraine: Yale University Press, 2012.
Van Vechten, Carl, Darryl Pinckney, Richard Benson, Thomas Palmer, Eakins Press Foundation, and James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of Negro Arts and Letters (Yale University). 2015, ‘"O, Write My Name’ : American Portraits, Harlem Heroes", Edited by Peter Kayafas and Leslie George Katz, [New edition]. New York: Eakins Press Foundation, 2015.
DimensionsSheet: 10 x 7 15/16 in. (25.4 x 20.2 cm)
Accession Number 2025.91
Classificationsphotograph
InscriptionsMarsden Hartley (verso l,l black ink)
MarksPHOTOGRAPH BY CARL VAN VECHTEN
CANNOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT PERMISSION
Date: June 7-1939 (date written in black ink)
Number: VIb:4 (catalogue number written in black ink) (stamp verso l,l, blue ink)
PHOTOGRAPH BY CARL VAN VECHTEN
PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART
65-86-4787 (4787 written in graphite)
GIVEN BY MARK LUTZ (stamp verso l,r black ink)
ProvenanceArtist; Mark Lutz [bequest from the previous, 1964]; Philadelphia Museum of Art [gift from the previous, 1965]; Des Moines Art Center [gift from the previous, 2025]
