{
    "data": {
        "id": 161298,
        "accession_number": "1999.70",
        "share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
        "tombstone": "Portrait of a Young Woman, c. 1940s. James Van Der Zee (American, 1886\u20131983). Gelatin silver print; image: 11.4 x 7.8 cm (4 1/2 x 3 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, 1999.70",
        "current_location": null,
        "title": "Portrait of a Young Woman",
        "creation_date": "c. 1940s",
        "creation_date_earliest": 1940,
        "creation_date_latest": 1949,
        "artists_tags": [
            "Black American Artists",
            "male"
        ],
        "culture": [
            "America"
        ],
        "technique": "gelatin silver print",
        "support_materials": [],
        "department": "Photography",
        "collection": "PH - American 1900-1950",
        "type": "Photograph",
        "measurements": "Image: 11.4 x 7.8 cm (4 1/2 x 3 1/16 in.)",
        "dimensions": {
            "image": {
                "height": 0.114,
                "height_inch": 4,
                "height_inch_fraction": 0.5,
                "width": 0.078,
                "width_inch": 3,
                "width_inch_fraction": 0.0625
            }
        },
        "state_of_the_work": null,
        "edition_of_the_work": null,
        "copyright": null,
        "inscriptions": [],
        "exhibitions": {
            "current": [],
            "legacy": []
        },
        "provenance": [],
        "find_spot": null,
        "related_works": [],
        "former_accession_numbers": [],
        "did_you_know": null,
        "early_education_description": null,
        "artlens_description": null,
        "description": "For more than 50 years, James VanDerZee produced images that embody the spirit of Harlem. From the 1920s to the 1940s, he was the neighborhood's most popular and prolific photographer, his camera capturing everyone from ordinary citizens to celebrities. In the studio VanDerZee photographed glamorously dressed young people and dignified men and women. On location, he chronicled picnics, parades, families, church congregations, and the dead in their coffins. These four prints, from a collection of 33 recently acquired by the museum, show VanDerZee's skill at posing and lighting his subjects. His artistic sensibilities are reflected in elaborate backdrops and the use of accessories that reinforced his sitters' associations with culture and wealth. The artist worked with a variety of techniques, including multiple negatives and hand coloring, to make artful photographs that set him apart from his more traditional, less aesthetically inclined competitors. Just as he often signed his name and date directly onto the negative, he would also selectively draw on it-to smooth a complexion and touch up imperfections, or to add extra jewelry or smoke drifting from a cigarette-whatever was necessary to emphasize the grace and dignity of his client, regardless of race, age, or social status.",
        "external_resources": {
            "wikidata": [
                "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79983899"
            ],
            "internet_archive": []
        },
        "citations": [],
        "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1999.70",
        "images": {},
        "alternate_images": [],
        "creditline": "The Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust",
        "image_credit": null,
        "sketchfab_id": null,
        "sketchfab_url": null,
        "gallery_donor_text": null,
        "athena_id": 161298,
        "creators": [
            {
                "id": 1049,
                "description": "James Van Der Zee (American, 1886\u20131983)",
                "extent": null,
                "qualifier": null,
                "role": "artist",
                "biography": "James Van Der Zee American, 1886-1983 Famous for his images of Harlem and its inhabitants, James Van Der Zee was born in Lenox, Massachusetts. During his youth, he took portraits of family members and friends, and after various jobs in Lenox and New York City began work in 1911 as a photographic assistant in the portrait studio run by Charles Gertz in Hahne's department store in Newark, New Jersey. From 1912-15 Van Der Zee operated a portrait studio in the Toussaint Conservatory of Art and Music, established by his sister Jennie. Two years later Van Der Zee opened a studio in Harlem and began making his memorable portraits. During the period of his greatest success, from the years of the Harlem Renaissance (1919-29) until World War II, he photographed the area's large African-American middle class, producing formal portraits of individuals, families, church and school groups, athletic organizations, women's clubs, fraternal organizations, weddings, funerals, and street scenes. He also photographed Harlem's celebrated artists, writers, singers, religious leaders, and politicians. In 1924 Van Der Zee became official photographer for Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association, documenting their conventions, rallies, and parades. He retired in the 1960s, but resumed photography for a brief period before his death. M.M.",
                "name_in_original_language": null,
                "birth_year": "1886",
                "death_year": "1983",
                "use_in_caption": true,
                "include_extent": false,
                "weight": 1
            }
        ],
        "legal_status": "accessioned",
        "accession_date": "1999-06-07T00:00:00",
        "sortable_date": 1940,
        "date_added_to_oa": null,
        "date_text": "c. 1940s",
        "collapse_artists": false,
        "on_loan": false,
        "recently_acquired": false,
        "record_type": "object",
        "conservation_statement": null,
        "has_conservation_images": false,
        "cover_accession_number": null,
        "is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
        "impression": null,
        "alternate_titles": [],
        "is_highlight": false,
        "updated_at": "2026-07-16 11:12:41.256000"
    }
}