Carl van Wechten ( born Carl van Vechten ; June 17, 1880 - December 21, 1964 , New York ) is an American writer, photographer, one of the patrons of the Harlem Renaissance , and managing the literary heritage of the American writer Gertrude Stein .
| Karl Van Wechten | |
|---|---|
| English Carl van Vechten | |
 Self portrait, 1934. | |
| Date of Birth | June 17, 1880 |
| Place of Birth | Cedar rapids |
| Date of death | December 21, 1964 (84 years old) |
| Place of death | New York |
| Citizenship |  USA |
| Occupation | writer , photographer |
| Language of Works | English |
Biography
Carl Van Wechten was born in Cedar Rapids ( Iowa ). Van Wechten graduated from the University of Chicago in 1903 . Three years later, he moved to New York , where he worked as a journalist. After the first failed marriage, he married in 1914 for the second time to actress Fane Marinoff . Although Karl Van Wechten was married to her for the rest of his life, 25 years after his death, his personal photos and correspondence testifying to his homosexuality were published (Smalls, James ( 2006 ). The Homoerotic Photography of Carl Van Vechten: Public Face , Private Thoughts).
He met Gertrude Stein in 1913 in Paris . For a long time they were friends and after her death he, according to the will of Stein, published her books. In the same way, he supported the African-American writer Nella Larsen.
In the 1950s, despite his age, he opposed Senator McCarthy ’s anti-communist tirades, without changing his own views.
Creativity
From 1915 to 1920, Van Wechten published many books on musical and literary subjects. In 1920, his book on cats, The Tiger in the House, was published. Between 1922 and 1930 , seven novels by the writer were published.
Van Wechten had a particular interest in African American literature and culture. He supported many important representatives of the Harlem Renaissance, including Langston Hughes , Wallace Thurman.
Van Wechten's novel "Black Paradise" caused a lot of controversy. He tells of Harlem's dissolute and reckless life, which Van Wechten describes in all its details. He was criticized for describing African-Americans and whites, relying on a cliche, not on reality. Nevertheless, the novel became a bestseller . Most of the writer's letters and works are stored in Yale University's Beineck library .
The most famous are the novels of Van Wechten: "Peter Whiffle" 1922 ; The Spider Boy ( 1923 ); The Tattooed Countess 1924 ; “Firecrackers” 1925 , “Negro Paradise” 1927 .
Karl Van Wechten was a good connoisseur of music (in particular, Russian), he composed several musical studies. In the 1930s, Karl Van Wechten photographed dozens of celebrities. Among them: Somerset Maugham , Gertrude Stein , Carson Mackalers , Edna St. Vincent Millay , Marlon Brando , Truman Capote , Scott Fitzgerald and many others.
Selected Works
- Music After the Great War ( 1915 )
- Music and Bad Manners ( 1916 )
- Interpreters and Interpretations ( 1917 )
- The Merry-Go-Round ( 1918 )
- The Music of Spain ( 1918 )
- In the Garret ( 1919 )
- The Tiger in the House ( 1920 )
- Lords of the Housetops ( 1921 )
- Peter Whiffle ( 1922 )
- The Blind Bow-Boy ( 1923 )
- The Tattooed Countess ( 1924 )
- Red (1925)
- Firecrackers ( 1925 )
- Excavations ( 1926 )
- Negro paradise (Nigger Heaven) ( 1926 )
- Spider Boy ( 1928 )
- Parties ( 1930 )
- Feathers (1930)
- Sacred and Profane Memories ( 1932 )
Publications in Russian
- Negro paradise . L .: Giz, 1928
Literature
- Kellner B. Carl Van Vechten and the irreverent decades . Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968
- Coleman L. Carl Van Vechten and the Harlem Renaissance: a critical assessment . New York: Garland Pub., 1998
- Kuhl N. Extravagant crowd: Carl van Vechten's portraits of women . New Haven: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, 2003
- Smalls, James. The Homoerotic Photography of Carl Van Vechten: Public Face, Private Thoughts. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006, ( [1] )
- Humphries B., Kelly J. Photographs by Carl Van Vechten . New York: J. Cummins, 2006
Links
- Creative Americans: Portraits by Carl Van Vechten at the Library of Congress features a searchable database of photographs taken by Van Vechten.
- Harlem Renaissance - Carl Van Vechten : Webpage with bibliography of books and articles by and about Van Vechten.
- Extravagant Crowd: Carl Van Vechten's Portraits of Women
- Yale May Not Think So, But It'll Be Just Jolly (link unavailable from 03/15/2014 [1999 days] - history , copy ) : pages from Van Vechten's scrapbooks from the exhibit The Pink and The Blue: Lesbian and Gay Life at Yale and in Connecticut, 1642-2004
- Books by Carl Van Vechten at the Universal Library at Carnegie-Mellon
- Article in the Literary Encyclopedia , 1929 (Russian)
- On the website PhotoIsland (Russian)