Carl van Vechton American 1880-1964
Archie Savage, c.1942

£1,950

Silver bromide print
Studio blind stamp (lower left), title and inventory number (verso)
18cm × 12.5cm (34cm × 28cm framed)

Van Vechten is most famous for his portraiture photography, however, he also took homoerotic images. Archie Savage was a pioneer of modern African-American dance. In 1939 Savage joined the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe & was often featured as Dunham’s dance partner; later in the 1940s he founded The Archie Savage Dancers.

Van Vechton also photographed him in the nude. For further information about the homoerotic aspect of his work, see ‘The Homoerotic Photography of Carl Van Vechten: Public Face, Private Thoughts’, James Smalls, (Temple University Press, 2006).