The Harlem Book of the Dead by James Der Zee, Owen Dodson and Camille Bilops

Published by Primary Information, 2025

Softcover

108 pages.

Originally published in 1978, The Harlem Book of the Dead is a haunting and beautiful document of Black funerary traditions in Harlem, which captures the community’s mourning rituals through the lens of one of the Harlem Renaissance’s most celebrated photographers. These portraits are complimented and captioned by poems from Owen Dodson; a wide-ranging interview with Van Der Zee by the sculptor and filmmaker Camille Billops, who conceptualized and edited the publication; and a foreword by acclaimed writer Toni Morrison. Rounding out this new edition is an afterword by Karla FC Holloway, author of Passed On (2001).

The publication is the most complete record of Van Der Zee’s funerary photographs, featuring over three dozen portraits by the artist, who meticulously composed the setting and subjects before using his renowned dark room and retouching skills to superimpose celestial figures, poetry, biblical scenes, or portraits onto the images to compensate for lack of adornments, such as flowers, or to fulfill the requests of his subjects or their families. Billops recognized the singular value in these portraits and collected them for the first time here, choosing to pair them with Dodson’s words to replicate a pairing of “death’s oldest companions—the portrait artist and the poet.” Further, her introduction and interview provide a valuable service in detailing the history of Van Der Zee’s life and work, his compositional decisions in the portraits, and the lives of his subjects and the circumstances of their passing.

During his lifetime, Van Der Zee was primarily known as a studio photographer, with an active portrait practice dating from 1916 to his death in 1983. His work took off between the World Wars and he is largely responsible for providing a visual record of the emergent Black middle class in the early twentieth century, capturing weddings, funerals, parades, sports clubs, community groups, and infantrymen (such as the Harlem Hellfighters). Over the years, understanding of Van Der Zee’s work—which was imbued from the start with creative technical mastery—has evolved and he is no longer seen as a mere documentarian but rather a visionary artist who amplified the beauty of the life and community around him.