Carl Van Vechten and Mark Lutz Collection
Carl Van Vechten and Mark Lutz Collection
A guide to our materials
Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a true [Harlem] Renaissance man as he was a famous author, cultural critic, photographer, and literary agent in the early 20th century. Though he lived in New York for the majority of his life, he made frequent trips to Richmond, VA: first as an author and critic writing for literary journal The Reviewer and then on return trips as a photographer to see close friend, lover, and University of Richmond alumnus, Mark Lutz. Lutz was a local journalist who helped Carl Van Vechten with his photography and aided in bringing their mutual friends Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas to Richmond in 1935. Upon Carl Van Vechten's death in 1964, he trusted all of his photographs to Mark Lutz who donated some to the University of Richmond. Following their wishes, their thirty-three years of correspondence were destroyed upon their deaths.
The Carl Van Vechten - Mark Lutz collection at the University of Richmond contains letters, programs, manuscripts, photographs, and other materials tied to these two figures, their relationship, and their relationships with notable figures. For those who want to explore the collection, we encourage looking at the list of CVV-Lutz materials below. If you need a little more guidance or want additional context for the collection, our exhibits make a better entry-point as they examine a subset of the materials through a specific lens or academic angle.
A guide to our materials
Carl Van Vechten (1880-1964) was a true [Harlem] Renaissance man as he was a famous author, cultural critic, photographer, and literary agent in the early 20th century. Though he lived in New York for the majority of his life, he made frequent trips to Richmond, VA: first as an author and critic writing for literary journal The Reviewer and then on return trips as a photographer to see close friend, lover, and University of Richmond alumnus, Mark Lutz. Lutz was a local journalist who helped Carl Van Vechten with his photography and aided in bringing their mutual friends Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas to Richmond in 1935. Upon Carl Van Vechten's death in 1964, he trusted all of his photographs to Mark Lutz who donated some to the University of Richmond. Following their wishes, their thirty-three years of correspondence were destroyed upon their deaths.
The Carl Van Vechten - Mark Lutz collection at the University of Richmond contains letters, programs, manuscripts, photographs, and other materials tied to these two figures, their relationship, and their relationships with notable figures. For those who want to explore the collection, we encourage looking at the list of CVV-Lutz materials below. If you need a little more guidance or want additional context for the collection, our exhibits make a better entry-point as they examine a subset of the materials through a specific lens or academic angle.
List of Materials
Explore all of our materials in a list view. We also have subsets of the collection based on material type included in the carousel to the right. After clicking into the list view, there are further options to filter based on creator, date, topic, and more.