The Van Der Zee Men, Lenox, Massachusetts

1908, printed 1974

James Van Der Zee

Associated Names
James Van Der Zee

Artist, American, 1886 - 1983

Richard Benson

Printer, American, 1943 - 2017

This is a black-and-white photograph of four men standing in a row facing the camera. The men are dressed in formal attire, with varying styles of suits and ties and shiny black shoes. Three of them wear bow ties and suit jackets over white shirts, while one man to the right of center wears a jacket and a waistcoat with a tie over a white shirt. A watch chain is also visible in the pocket of his waistcoat. This man appears older than the other three men; he has gray hair and a long gray mustache, while the other three men have short dark hair and clean faces. They all have dark skin. They are standing on a pathway with fallen leaves around them, in front of a building with large windows and white columns. Trees and foliage are visible in the background on the right.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund

  • Dimensions

    image/sheet: 15.7 × 12.5 cm (6 3/16 × 4 15/16 in.)
    mount: 38.1 × 31.7 cm (15 × 12 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2021.22.1.3

  • Copyright

    © James Van Der Zee Archive, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Associated Artworks

See all 18 artworks

Mrs. Turner, Lenox, Massachusetts

James Van Der Zee, Richard Benson

1905

James Van Der Zee: Eighteen Photographs

James Van Der Zee, Richard Benson

1905

This is a black-and-white photograph of a classroom with students seated in ornate wooden desks. The room is lit with natural light coming in from large windows at the top. The walls are wooden and decorated with papers and photographs, including a framed portrait on the right. There are rows of desks with detailed metalwork on the side panels, and while some of the desks closest to us are empty, there are several rows of students in the center of the photograph. The students are mostly facing the left, but some turn their heads to look at us. Many of them hold books. They are dressed formally, and most appear to have dark skin, although one or two seem to have lighter skin. In the back a woman with dark skin stands behind the desks, her arms behind her back, wearing a white dress.

Whittier Preparatory School, Phoebus, Virginia

James Van Der Zee, Richard Benson

1907


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The Estate of Harry H. Lunn, Jr.; Myriam Lunn, New York, 1998; NGA purchase (through Florence Lunn, New York), 2021.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

signed by artist, lower right below image in graphite: J Van Der Zee


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