7 7/8 x 9 7/8 in. silver gelatin photograph (minimal edge wear). Van Vechten's blindstamp to lower left edge. Verso with typed credit to Van Vechten and inked identification. Dee is shown seated in a patterned dress against a backdrop decorated with masquerade masks. 

Ruby Dee (1922-2014) was famous for a multitude of roles, both as a groundbreaking African American actress in plays and films like "A Raisin in the Sun," and as a civil rights activist, emceeing such events as the 1963 March on Washington. Her acting career would go on to span 7 decades, and her voice would be a prominent one in the fight for equality. As a result, Dee was honored by multiple organizations and institutions, including the national Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, who chose her as the recipient of a lifetime achievement award in 2005.

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.