Mr. Bojangles Tap Dancing
Self Portrait Bill and Carl
My artist of
concern is Carl Van Vechten, born on June 17, 1880 in Grand Rapids, Iowa and
passed on December 21, 1964 in New York City, New York at the aged of 84. Mr.
Vechten graduated from Washington High School in 1898 and from the University of
Chicago in 1903. It was there he became interested in writing.
After
college, Van Vechten’s first job was with the Chicago American. In addition to
covering a broad range of topics such as art, music and opera he was
occasionally asked to provide photographs to go along with his articles that
lead to his photography ambitions.
He became
the first American critic of modern dance while working at the New York Times in 1909. Mr. Van Vechten
was interested in black writers and artists, and knew and promoted many of the
major figures of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes, Richard
Wright and Wallace Thurman.
In the
1930s, he began taking portrait photographs. The first image shown I titled
“Mr. Bojangles Tap Dancing” and the second I named “Self Portrait Bill and
Carl” (Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Carl Van Vechten). Some of the individuals
he photographed were Horst P. Horst, James Stewart, Marlon Brando, Bessie Smith,
Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and Anna May Wong too name a few. He was an avid
collector of ephemera and books pertaining to black arts and letters. He was a
frequent visitor to Harlem New York.
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