{"product_id":"a-nimble-arc-9781478024903","title":"A Nimble Arc","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhile James Van Der Zee is widely known and praised for his studio portraits from the Harlem Renaissance era, much of the diversity and expansive reach of his work has been overlooked. From the major role his studio played for decades photographing ordinary people and events in the Harlem community to the inclusion of his photographs in the landmark \u003ci\u003eHarlem on My Mind\u003c\/i\u003e exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1969, Van Der Zee was a foundational Black photographer whose work illustrates the shifting ways photography serves as a constitutive force within Black life. In \u003ci\u003eA Nimble Arc\u003c\/i\u003e, Emilie Boone considers Van Der Zee’s photographic work over the course of the twentieth century, showing how it foregrounded aspects of Black daily life in the United States and in the larger African diaspora. Boone argues that Van Der Zee’s work exists at the crossroads of art and the vernacular, challenging the distinction between canonical art photographs and the kind of out\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In her innovative and timely revisiting of the work of America’s most iconic Black photographer, James Van Der Zee, Emilie Boone reinvigorates the practice of this singular artist through a careful and considered unpacking of the social function his images served as quotidian objects. \u003ci\u003eA Nimble Arc\u003c\/i\u003e takes readers on a captivating journey into the social life of Van Der Zee’s photographs in ways that allow us to see iconic images anew and recognize the enduring value of photography as a community-building project that exceeds the intentions and aspirations of any individual photographer.” -- Tina M. Campt, author of * A Black Gaze: Artists Changing How We See *\u003cbr\u003e“This is a truly exceptional work. Exquisitely written, researched, and argued, \u003ci\u003eA Nimble Arc\u003c\/i\u003e is the most comprehensive study of James Van Der Zee’s practice in almost thirty years. I predict a long and fruitful life for this book.” -- Kellie Jones, author of * South of Pico: African American Artists in Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s *\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eA Nimble Arc \u003c\/i\u003ebroadens James Van Der Zee’s legacy amid a savvied history of twentieth-century Harlem.\" -- Meg Nola * Foreword Reviews *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of Illustrations  ix\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments  xv\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. To Pivot Lightly: Adding the Vernacular to Art History’s Sight Line  1\u003cbr\u003e 1. “More, Many More”: Van Der Zee’s World of Harlem Renaissance Studio Photographers  29\u003cbr\u003e 2. The Newspaper and Ubiquity: 1924 Photographs as Moving Objects of the African Diaspora  71\u003cbr\u003e 3. A Reframing of Value: Van Der Zee’s Restoration Work of the 1940s and Beyond  113\u003cbr\u003e 4. Black Quotidian Experiences: Revisiting the Met’s \u003ci\u003eHarlem on My Mind\u003c\/i\u003e Exhibition of 1969  153\u003cbr\u003e Coda. To Nimbly Rewind: Fixing a New Constellation of Ideas circa 1994  199\u003cbr\u003e Notes  213\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography  241\u003cbr\u003e Index  259","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49409016889687,"sku":"9781478024903","price":19.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781478024903.jpg?v=1730505109","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/a-nimble-arc-9781478024903","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}