James VanDerZee was one of the great American photographers of the 20th century and the leading African-American photographer of his day. This survey of his work includes his late portraits, as well as many of his best-known photographs and some new discoveries. There are also two revealing essays, one by Deborah Willis, author of Black Photographers, 1840-1988, which shows how VanDerZee used his artistic powers to shape a collective image of his world, and a biographical text by Rodger Birt that tells the story of the discovery of VanDerZee by the world outside Harlem in 1969.