Smithsonian American Art Museum  / Harlem Heroes

A collection of gravure prints reproducing portraits by Carl Van Vechtenberg are paired with short biographies of their notable subjects.

  • Front cover has a photograph of Altonell Hines with the title treatment that evokes the era, all on a black background.
  • Half-title page spread has a solid black page against the title treatment in a medium gray on a white background.
  • Frontispiece of a cityscape from “View from 9D, 146 Central Park West, NYC” with the title page.
  • Introduction features a detail from the portrait of Dorothy Peterson that shows the patterned wallpaper behind her.
  • Profile opening spread of Ethel Waters, a singer from the Harlem Renaissance and Academy Award winner for Pinky from 1949.
  • Internal spread from Ethel Waters’ profile features a detail of her photo featuring a pattern of leaves.
  • Opening spread for artist Jacob Lawrence’s profile shows his portrait. He is known for his work “The Migration of the Negro.”
  • Opening spread for W.E.B. DuBois’ profile his portrait. He founded the N.A.A.C.P. and its influential magazine, “The Crisis.”

Other projects completed for the Smithsonian American Art Museum include:

Cover of Isamu Noguchi Archaic/Modern features a minimalist sculpture near a light grey wall under an arched ceiling.

Isamu Noguchi

Exhibition identity

Identity of the 50th anniversary of SAAM Renwick consists of a sans-serif “5” overlapped with “0” made from diagonal lines in red and blue.

50 Year Fellowship

Identity, Print Materials

Cover of Tiffany Chung: Vietnam, Past is Prologue features a map of boat trajectories from the exodus from Vietnam.

Tiffany Chung, Vietnam: Past is Prologue

Print Materials