The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2025

Black-and-white photograph of four people with medium-light skin tones wearing dresses and strings of beads or pearls in an interior. On our right, one sits facing and looking to our left, another standing behind and looking the same direction. The third sits central, facing us and looking slightly to the right. On our left, the fourth person stands facing our right, placing one hand on the back of a chair and leaning on a cabinet in front of a window.

Women's Club

1927
(American, 1886–1983)
America
gelatin silver print
Image: 19.1 x 24.1 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
Gift of the Links, Cleveland Chapter 1975.85
© Donna Mussenden VanDerZee
Location: not on view

Description

Harlem’s preeminent portrait photographer James Van Der Zee portrayed people as they wish to be remembered. Mrs. Edith Milburn, possibly the sitter second from the left, commissioned this formal group portrait, set in an elegant home on West 138th Street in Harlem.
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1975.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 63, no. 2 (February 1976): 31–71. Reproduced: p. 50; Mentioned: p. 70, no. 145 www.jstor.org
    Hinson, Tom E. “Eight New Photographs.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 2 (February 1981): 51–62. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 52-53, fig. 2 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 367
    Adamson, Glenn. "Capture the Flag." The Magazine Antiques 186, no. 5 (Sept./Oct. 2019): 22-23. Reproduced: p. 23
  • A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920–1950. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-November 7, 2021).
    CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art."
    Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).
  • {{cite web|title=Women's Club|url=false|author=James Van Der Zee|year=1927|access-date=23 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1975.85