Today’s art history post features photography history: “Christmas Morning,” 1933, photo by James Van Der Zee (1886-1983), hand painted gelatin silver print. #photography #darkroomphotography #studiophotography #PhotographyHistory #Christmas #blackphotographer #blackphotographers #blackhistory

From Thelma Golden, Aperture Magazine, Summer, 2016: “VanDerZee pictured families, couples, social clubs, and church groups in moments of communal joy and beauty. His subjects were acutely aware of the brutal segregation and economic inequality of the world of that era, yet stood in proud opposition to it-providing a visual framework for imagining a different future. Eighty-three years later, Christmas Morning continues to resonate.

The photographs of VanDerZee and his contemporaries comprise a compelling visual document of black pride and self-determination at a particular moment in history, yet in the present moment they remain a potent symbol of the transformative power of photographic representation.”