The Harlem Renaissance Comes to Sidwell Friends
A photography exhibit in Zartman House introduces an iconic era to a new generation.
On Saturday, October 19, as Homecoming festivities filled the campus, Sidwell Friends hosted a photography exhibit and reception featuring works by noted American writer and photographer Carl Van Vechten, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. The exhibit, Representatives: Picturing A New Spirit of Excellence, will be on display throughout the 2024/25 academic year. It showcases more than 20 black-and-white portraits carefully selected from a collection of 50 photographs depicting African American intellectuals, artists, athletes, and more of the Harlem Renaissance, including W.E.B. DuBois, Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ruby Dee.
Van Vechten was among the first mainstream art critics to spotlight the work of Black artists for white audiences. This collection was generously donated to Sidwell Friends School by the Joyce and George Wein Foundation in 2022, and this is the first time these historic photographs have been shown since then. George Wein himself was a major figure in the history of jazz as the founder and producer of the Newport Jazz Festival.
The Van Vechten exhibit offers the viewer an opportunity to reflect on the enormous impact the Harlem Renaissance had on U.S. history. The genius that came flooding out of upper Manhattan in the first half of the 20th century changed the course of music, literature, art, and civil rights throughout the nation. The faces peering out of every frame embody excellence and implicitly ask their modern-day audiences to reflect on how a life lived with purpose, authenticity, and dedication can reveal the beauty and resilience of the human spirit.
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