circumstances of many of his customers and partly because the growing popularity of personal cameras reduced the need for professional photography. Van Der Zee responded by shooting passport photos, doing photo restorations, and taking other miscellaneous photography jobs, an approach he would employ for over two decades. In 1967 James Van Der Zee’s work was rediscovered by photographers and photo-historians and he then received attention far beyond his Harlem community. Van Der Zee came out of retirement to photograph celebrities who in turn promoted his work in exhibits around the nation. His images were also the subject of books and documentaries. In 1993, the National Portrait Gallery exhibited his work as a posthumous tribute to his remarkable genius. Harlem on My Mind In 1969, VanDerZee gained worldwide recognition when his work was featured in the exhibition, Harlem on My Mind,at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. His inclusion in the exhibition was somewhat by accident. In December 1967, a researcher for the exhibition (and a photographer in his own right), Reginald McGhee, came across VanDerZee’s Harlem studio and asked if he happened to have any photographs from the 1920s and 30s. In a story recounted by photo historian Rodger C. Birt, VanDerZee showed him the boxes and boxes of negatives he had kept from this period. These photographs would become the core of Harlem on My Mind— and the feature of the exhibit that critics routinely praised as the show’s biggest revelation. As art historian Sharon Patton observed, VanDerZee not only documented the Harlem Renaissance, but also helped create it. Harlem on My Mind marked a controversy between the Met and a number of practicing artists then living and working around Harlem. Painters including Romare Bearden and Benny Andrews protested the show for its emphasis on social history and experience, at the expense—as they viewed it—of interest in the artistic legacy of black New York artists. On opening day, a picket line formed in front of the Met. Andrews carried a sign reading: “Visit The Metropolitan Museum of Photography.” (credits – Howard Greenberg gallery; wikipedia.org) The Great Frame Up currently features originals, prints, sculptures and framed artwork of numerous African American and Iowa artists in the gallery. To see some of the prior artists featured visit www. westdesmoines.thegreatframeup.com and our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ tgfuwdmiowa. Please follow us on Pinterest www.pinterest.com/tgfuwdm and Twitter @ tgfuwdm.
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