Take a Picture of Me, James VanDerZee!

Review
By Publishers Weekly

In an absorbing debut, Loney introduces African-American photographer VanDerZee, who moved from Massachusetts to Harlem at age 18 with a dream and a camera: “He saw what was special in everyone and captured each person’s story on film.” Mallett’s lush acrylic paintings glow with a golden light in several scenes, treating his subject (and the Harlem Renaissance movement he documented) with the same reverence VanDerZee brought to his work. Loney closes on a triumphant note with VanDerZee’s photographs on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. An extensive afterword features several of VanDerZee’s photographs and additional insights into his life and work.