James Van Der Zee
The Heiress, Harlem1938, printed circa 1974

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Labor and Leisure in the American Metropolis

Sepia-toned photograph of a woman standing behind a white Steinway grand piano in a Victorian-era interior crowded with gilt-framed paintings, mirrors, and ornate furnishings

Artist or Maker: James Van Der Zee
Title: The Heiress, Harlem
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1938, printed circa 1974
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 7 7/16 × 9 7/16 in. (18.89 × 23.97 cm) Primary support: 7 7/16 × 9 7/16 in. (18.89 × 23.97 cm) Secondary support: 12 1/2 × 15 in. (31.75 × 38.1 cm) Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.64 × 50.8 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Graham and Susan Nash
Accession Number: M.91.359.71
Classification: Photographs
Collecting Area: Photography
Curatorial Notes: The Heiress, Harlem is a portrait of a Black domestic worker surrounded by the material wealth of her recently deceased white employer. At first glance, the titular “heiress” is obscured by the cavernous perspective and the lavish furnishings and artworks in the crowded room. Elegantly dressed, seated behind a luminescent white Steinway grand piano, she balances a delicate batonlike object between her fingertips. Her up-from-under eyes gaze knowingly into the camera. On the wall to her right are two opulently framed paintings, a small still-life of indiscernible subject matter next to a very large Renaissance-style Madonna and Child. These objects in particular allow Van Der Zee to engage with Western art history in oblique yet provocative ways. The indirect positioning of the paintings in relation to the camera lens and the heiress’ gaze creates an intriguing and subtle comment on the status of the “other” in Western art.

Initially an aspiring musician, Van Der Zee turned to professional photography in the 1910s and opened a portrait studio in Harlem in 1917. Made more than two decades later, in 1938, The Heiress, Harlem reflects Van Der Zee’s move away from the formality imposed by the studio setting into the realm of documentary portraiture capturing Black social and cultural life. Photography has often been touted as among the most democratizing forms of image making, and Van Der Zee embodied this spirit in real time. He photographed luminaries in the Black community, such as the poet Countee Cullen and the Pan-Africanist leader Marcus Garvey, but he also found time for Harlemites of no celebrity status such as this “heiress.”

2024
Copyright: © James Van Der Zee Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

James Van Der Zee
The Heiress, Harlem1938, printed circa 1974

On view:

Geffen Galleries, Labor and Leisure in the American Metropolis

Artist or Maker: James Van Der Zee
Title: The Heiress, Harlem
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1938, printed circa 1974
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: Image: 7 7/16 × 9 7/16 in. (18.89 × 23.97 cm) Primary support: 7 7/16 × 9 7/16 in. (18.89 × 23.97 cm) Secondary support: 12 1/2 × 15 in. (31.75 × 38.1 cm) Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.64 × 50.8 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Graham and Susan Nash
Accession Number: M.91.359.71
Classification: Photographs
Collecting Area: Photography
Curatorial Notes: The Heiress, Harlem is a portrait of a Black domestic worker surrounded by the material wealth of her recently deceased white employer. At first glance, the titular “heiress” is obscured by the cavernous perspective and the lavish furnishings and artworks in the crowded room. Elegantly dressed, seated behind a luminescent white Steinway grand piano, she balances a delicate batonlike object between her fingertips. Her up-from-under eyes gaze knowingly into the camera. On the wall to her right are two opulently framed paintings, a small still-life of indiscernible subject matter next to a very large Renaissance-style Madonna and Child. These objects in particular allow Van Der Zee to engage with Western art history in oblique yet provocative ways. The indirect positioning of the paintings in relation to the camera lens and the heiress’ gaze creates an intriguing and subtle comment on the status of the “other” in Western art.

Initially an aspiring musician, Van Der Zee turned to professional photography in the 1910s and opened a portrait studio in Harlem in 1917. Made more than two decades later, in 1938, The Heiress, Harlem reflects Van Der Zee’s move away from the formality imposed by the studio setting into the realm of documentary portraiture capturing Black social and cultural life. Photography has often been touted as among the most democratizing forms of image making, and Van Der Zee embodied this spirit in real time. He photographed luminaries in the Black community, such as the poet Countee Cullen and the Pan-Africanist leader Marcus Garvey, but he also found time for Harlemites of no celebrity status such as this “heiress.”

2024