Ripples in the Historiography: Harlem Studio Photographer James Van Der Zee and Cecil Beaton's New York, 1938.

This article examines the early historiography of Harlem studio photographer James Van Der Zee through his inclusion in Cecil Beaton’s 1938 book *Cecil Beaton’s New York*. While Beaton’s text and portrayal of Van Der Zee reflect racist and exoticizing attitudes common in early twentieth-century white British and American perspectives, the book nonetheless marks the first published account featuring Van Der Zee’s photographs, albeit without crediting him by name. The essay situates Van Der Zee within transatlantic cultural networks involving Beaton, avant-garde artist Charles Henri Ford, and Black audiences, highlighting stylistic affinities with surrealism and the Harlem Renaissance’s New Negro movement. It also underscores the existence of a critical Black viewership during the interwar period, capable of engaging with Van Der Zee’s work beyond Beaton’s dismissive framing, thus inviting a reconsideration of Van Der Zee’s significance in both American and international photographic histories.