January 30, 2012

Carl Van Vechten

James Earl Jones

Eartha Kitt

Carl Van Vechten, and Iowan, was a music critic, photographer, and patron of the Harlem Renaissance. He's best known for his studio portraits of artists, writers, actors, and musicians. Yale's Beinecke Library holds a large Van Vechten's kodachrome cache full of unusual images of well known African American performers (this tough and intimate Billie Holiday portrait was new to me). More images from Yale's collection can be found here. (found via It's never summer)

Note: The Library server seems to fail regularly, so browse

posted at 12:48 AM by raul

Filed under: photographers