Sold for $819

6 5/8 x 9 in. silver gelatin photograph (some edge and corner wear, verso with light stain and occasional spots). Verso with manuscript credit, "Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, XIX b:27, January 12 1933." One of a number of photographs by Van Vechten capturing the exuberance of Cab Calloway (1907-1994), legendary bandleader, singer, and all-around entertainer of the swing era. 

Carl Van Vechten was well-connected to the people and places of the Harlem Renaissance at a time when racial segregation and Jim Crow laws were intense. Throughout the 1920s, he indulged in the parties and social scene of New York's Black creative class, which he captured in his provocatively titled novel Nigger Heaven. When the Depression came, he stopped writing novels and began taking photographs, most notably of influential African Americans, taking iconic portraits of thought leaders, entertainment stars, sports figures, artists, writers of the Harlem Renaissance, and more. His collection of over 9000 images, mostly portraits, is held at the Beinecke Library at Yale University.