American Historical Ephemera & Early Photography Online

4 silver gelatin prints. Each recto, lower right or lower left with Carl Van Vechten's embossed blindstamp. Versos with Van Vechten's studio stamp, as well as the title, date, and inventory number, in ink.

Subjects include: Lotte Lenya (1898-1981), Austrian American singer and actor. 9 1/4 x 6 in. (sight) photograph, matted and framed, 14 1/4 x 11 1/4 in. Paper label on frame backing indicates that the photograph includes a handwritten identification and date (13 February 1962) in Van Vechten's hand. -- José Iturbi Báguena (1895-1980), conductor, pianist, harpsichordist, and actor from Valencia, Spain. 10 x 7 3/4 in. silver gelatin photograph. -- Iris Mabry, internationally known professional dancer from Tennessee. 10 x 7 1/2 in. silver gelatin photograph with manuscript identification on verso, "Miss Mabry in "Appasionata," dated 25 April 1954. -- Nora Kaye (1920-1987, American prima-ballerina known for her ability to perform dramatic roles. 7 x 5 in. silver gelatin photograph with manuscript identification on verso, "Nora Kaye: The Black Swan," dated 3 November 1948.

Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a highly influential American novelist, music and drama critic, and photographer during the early 20th century. He was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then attended the University of Chicago, where he graduated in 1903. He worked as an assistant music critic at the New York Times in 1906, and after a trip to Europe became the first American critic of modern dance. He served as literary executor of American novelist, playwright, and art collector Gertrude Stein, whom he first met in Paris in 1913.

Van Vechten was an early supporter of African American culture and was well-connected to the people and places of the Harlem Renaissance at a time when racial segregation and Jim Crow laws were intense. Throughout the 1920s, he indulged in the parties and social scene of New York's Black creative class, which he captured in his provocatively titled novel Nigger Heaven. When the Depression came, he stopped writing novels and began taking photographs, most notably of influential African Americans, producing iconic portraits of thought leaders, entertainment stars, sports figures, artists, writers of the Harlem Renaissance, and more. His collection of over 9000 images, mostly portraits, is held at the Beinecke Library at Yale University.