On View
Not on viewObject number2009.91.12
Wedding Day, Harlem
Artist
James Van Der Zee
(American, 1886-1983)
Date1926
Mediumgelatin silver print
Dimensionsmat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
mount: 15 × 12 1/2 in. (38.1 × 31.8 cm)
image (flush): 9 1/4 × 6 7/8 in. (23.5 × 17.5 cm)
mount: 15 × 12 1/2 in. (38.1 × 31.8 cm)
image (flush): 9 1/4 × 6 7/8 in. (23.5 × 17.5 cm)
Credit LinePurchased with funds provided by an anonymous donor
Exhibition History"Light Works: Photographs from the Collection," KIA Long Gallery (Sept. 18 - Dec. 12, 2010).
"Light Works: A Century of Photography," KIA traveling exhibit. Nassau County Museum of Art, (Nov. 19, 2016 - Mar. 5, 2017).
"Dawoud Bey: Harlem, USA and Harlem Redux," KIA Galleries 2 & 5, Jan. 13 - Apr. 11, 2018
"Resilience: African American Artists as Agents of Change," at the KIA (September 14, 2019 - February 16, 2020)
"Resilience: African American Artists as Agents of Change," [Travel Version] at the Dennos Museum Center, Traverse City, MI (June 6, 2021 - August, 15, 2021)
"Celebrate!" KIA KIA Upjohn Mason Grandchildren Interactive Gallery (September 23, 2023 - January 14, 2024)Label TextThis 1926 portrait typifies the artistic and technical skills that made James Van Der Zee the leading photographer in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood in the 1920s-1930s. Beyond mere documentation, his art promoted ideals of mainstream social equality and prosperity for an emerging black, urban middle class.
Posed in a studio before a painted hearth and garden, an elegantly garbed couple sits for their wedding portrait. The dapper groom shows his devotion toward the bride, who is the psychological focal point of the photograph. The directness of her gaze conveys the grace and strength of a young woman embarking upon a new life as a wife and, someday, a mother. A superimposed image of a little girl foreshadows a family, while nostalgically reminding us how recently the bride herself was a child playing with dolls. Van Der Zee frequently used such double exposures to enhance the sentimental or dramatic effect.
Van Der Zee attributed his success, in part, to a natural curiosity about people. He studied his subjects carefully and strove to express their personality or inner character. His depictions emphasize the essential humanity of the people of Harlem—their beauty, sophistication, pride, prosperity, and dignity. Van Der Zee was one of several artists whose images asserted black identities that combated the racial stereotypes circulating in the early 20th century. This portrait, like countless others by Van Der Zee, not only recorded an unknown couple’s personal aspirations, but helped advance the achievements and idealism that characterized one of the most culturally productive periods in American history.
