| James
Van DerZee, Dean of African American Photographers, was one
of the most famous chroniclers of American culture and life
in the entire history of the over 100 year old medium of photography.
His career spanned over nine decades from receiving his first
mail ordered camera as a child in his native Lenox, Massachusetts
to his renowned GGG Studios in Harlem at 272 Lenox Avenue.
He photographed every major politician, celebrity, entertainer,
writer, artist, professional and business owner to live in
and visit the Harlem community of his day. He operated his
studio there from 1920 until 1969.
His
parents were the maid and butler of the former General and
President Ulysses S. Grant and his wife in New York City,
after he retired. In 1969, basically out of obscurity, Van
DerZee was the single largest contributor to the controversial
Metropolitan Museum's "Harlem on My Mind" exhibition,
oversaw the founding of the James Der VerZee Institute in
New York City and received the American Society of Magazine
Photographer's Award. Since then, Van DerZee has received
numerous awards for the extensive body of his work and has
been widely exhibited in one man, group and retrospective
shows around the world. Burgess Fine Arts first presented
James Van DerZee in a one man exhibition in July of 1975.
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