JAMES VAN DER ZEE His Photographic Legacy

If there is one luminary among the greats of African-American photography (including the likes of; Gordon Parks, Carrie Mae Weems and Moneta Sleet Jr) it is James Van Der Zee that could be considered the “Father of the Form.” Van Der Zee was a major and respected force truly in all of American photography for the entirety of his professional career. He was part of and centered the Harlem Renaissance as he chronicled events and personal moments. The black & white images he captured and created are rich and rewarding. 

                                                                                                                     
         


















Van Der Zee was primarily a portrait photographer. His subjects included the wealthy and famous along with local residents of New York’s Harlem. He showcased beauty, elegance and confidence in his subjects. He also; when he deemed necessary, used dark room techniques to enhance his pieces giving an artistic and many times haunting quality to the works. Van Der Zee was dedicated and wholly committed in the best traditions that he helped invent.

His subjects were always given his best accompanied with a sense of joy that remains evident in the work. Van Der Zee loved what he did with his life and work; it was his gift and we his beneficiaries; the recipient of those gifts. These things we treasure are the result of much work and calculation. Van Der Zee as all great artists’ made the results look easy but they come of course with the calculated effort of his eye and technical skill. Vander Zee is; the brilliant artist of “The Ages” of the eternal.

                                     

                                    

                                                                            

Life Doesn't Frighten Me

Shadows on the wall

Noises down the hall

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Bad dogs barking Loud

Big ghosts in a cloud

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Mean old Mother Goose

Lions on the loose

They don’t frighten me at all

Dragons breathing flame

On my counterpane

That doesn’t frighten me at all

I go boo

Make them shoo

I make fun

Way they run

I won’t cry

So they fly

I just smile

They go wild

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Tough guys fight

All alone at night

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Panthers in the park

Strangers in the dark

No, they don’t frighten me at all

That new classroom where

Boys all pull my hair

(Kissy little girls

With their hair in curls)

They don’t frighten me at all

Don’t show me frogs and snakes

And listen for my scream,

If I’m afraid at all

It’s only in my dreams.

I’ve got a magic charm

That I keep up my sleeve,

I can walk the ocean floor

And never have to breathe.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all

Not at all

Not at all.

Life doesn’t frighten me at all.   

Jean-Michel Basquiat  and  Maya Angelou

Alma Thomas' Fields of Color

Portrait of Alma Thomas by Laura W. Waring

To find one's self lost in the color-fields of Alma Thomas is remarkably; a very good place to be so gloriously engaged. For whatever time you find yourself in their company; you are not really lost but in the hands and talents of one of America’s finest creators. Miss Thomas’ paintings are  passionate feasts of color, light and gestural forms. Patterns figure heavily into her mosaic like compositions. Her works will stand the test of time and scrutiny but at best are things to be purely enjoyed.

Miss Thomas is most associated with her beloved Washington DC where she taught in public schools and at Howard University. She was discovered after retirement while attending American University studying and quickly mastering abstraction and it’s intricacies. After a few major exhibitions her reputation grew to the highest levels and she is found in major collections, museums, magazines and histories. Her work is included at both the National Gallery and the American Art Museum in the nation’s capital as part of their permanent collections.

Nature figured greatly in the aesthetics of Alma Thomas. Her mature style was unique and by observing and using nature as her measure of excellence that singularity of expression she cherished became a reality. She loved to take long drives observing the beauty, composition and effects of light and atmosphere on the objects of the natural world. She understood the importance it played in her work and the fullness she enjoyed from experiencing it’s riches. The effect it produced on her life and art are measureless and we; the benefactors remain in wondrous awe.   

Henry O Tanner: His Life, Times, Art and Fame

 Among America’s and the world’s most accomplished academic artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth century resplendently reside the works of Henry Ossawa Tanner. His paintings works on every level; composition, dramatic and distinctive lighting, attention to anatomy, textures and form. 

They are naturalistic, traditional, and technical feats of wonder. His master-works are tributes to his influences while remaining original. Every painting of the mature Tanner possesses his distinctive, incomparable, robust yet poetic style. Equally evident to the eye of the trained and the studied as well as to the untrained…the man was brilliant! He speaks to the ages.

Tanner was the son of an “African Methodist Episcopalian” minister, a scholar and an expatriate. He moved to France (the center of the art world at the time) in his effort to distance himself from the pervading inequalities of race and the intolerances he faced in the America he knew. He would produce the masterpieces we know to be his greatest in France. It was in France that he was to become unburdened and reach his maximum pinnacles of success and creativity.   

Ultimately it is the work that transcends and speaks to our times and undoubtedly into the future. Tanner; in his lifetime, was considered by many to be the fore most living painter of biblical themes and events. He had a marvelous knack and ability to reinterpret passages from the Bible in new and exciting ways while retaining a reverence rivaling the great masters of eras previous to himself.   “The Annunciation” and “The Raising of Lazarus” are among the works that speak to us as paintings of conviction and dedication as much and in ways equal to many sermons.    

The Genre paintings Tanner produced were startling! The subjects often featured African-Americans but were not exclusively or restrictively so. “The Banjo Lesson” and “The Thankful Poor” are simply stand-outs and almost iconic in stature. They speak to his depth of spirit and have inspired generations. Tanner; this son of Philadelphia, represents his most American of cities so well and so splendidly.

Henry O Tanner’s portfolio ranged from the biblical to portraiture, from landscape to anatomical studies and photography.  He studied and worked passionately as every committed artist has through all of history. With his uncanny sense of greatness and devotion, it was his wife that was his greatest inspiration. She modeled for a number of his most powerful works including “The Annunciation.” She is eloquently and lovingly depicted here.

Charles White; the Greatest Draftsman

                                                                                                                             

In many ways Charles White is the greatest draftsman the African/American community has produced.  White is a master of grand style. Robust, massive, detailed works that to look upon is to see into the heart of a people that have persevered for generation on faith and an unparalled inner harmony of self, god and nature. His works are intentional pieces; they are testaments to the power of dedication to the higher callings of the artist. They can sometimes be viewed as propaganda pieces but they are of propaganda of necessity and not one of exclusion or a false superiority. White; by reaching into the self and the genetic id of a people has tapped into the universality of the human spirit. In short his works speak to all nations and every human condition.

 

 

The Nineteen Forties through Seventies were White’s productive years and his style evolved and matured as his skill of craft grew. He was married for time to another luminary artist, Elizabeth Catlett. There are individual works by both artists that show a commonality of style and influences.

White was recognized on a global scale throughout his life. He was much lauded and influential as a teacher as well as a professional artist and a friend to the creative men and women of his time. His works of power, beauty and grace virtually shout to the highest of hills of joy and into the deep valleys of despair with the eloquence only the greatest of artists are able to imbue into their works.