[Visual Arts] Vechten, Carl Van. (1880-1964). Original Van Vechten Photograph of Allen Meadows. Vintage 1940 silver photograph of the dancer, Allen Meadows. Photographer's credit wet stamp on verso: "Photograph by Carl Van Vechten 146 Central Park West Cannot be Reproduced without Permission," and his raised blindstamp "Photograph by Carl Van Vecthen." Inscribed and titled in pencil on verso. 11 x 14 inches. Very fine.

Van Vechten was introduced to his model Juante (Allen) Meadows by the African-American sculptor Richmond Barthé (1901 - 1989) who "shared an interest in incorporating the racialized and eroticized male nude into [his] art." In his personal scrapbook of photographs, Van Vechten wrote on another similar image of Meadows the suggestive lines "NEW YORK'S BIGGEST DATE! SEE IT! DRIVE IT! BUY IT! NOW DRIVING'S A JOY.'" Virtually nothing is known about Meadow's background. He was probably a young dancer and circulated among Harlem's black and white gay cultural elite, if not physically, then certainly through Van Vechten's photographs." (James Smalls, "The Homoerotic Photography of Carl Van Vechten," p. 97 and p. 173)