Madame E. Toussaint Welcome, born Jennie Louise Van Der Zee, was an African Americanvisual artist associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Van Der Zee, who referred to herself as "the foremost female artist of the race," is recognized as being one of the only African American women filmmakers from the silent film industry. She and her husband, Ernest Toussaint Welcome, were also known as the husband-and-wife team of their time. Working closely together, they established their own art school, photographic studio, and film organization; they produced films and paintings that recognized the African American soldiers of World War I. The film, a 12-part documentary, was titled Doing Their Bit.
Early life
Van Der Zee was born in Lenox, Massachusetts, to John Van Der Zee and Susan Brister. Before moving to Lenox, Massachusetts, her parents were maid and butler in New York to President Ulysses S. Grant. Jennie attended Lenox High School and took private lessons in art and music in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Early in the 20th century, she moved to New York with her father and brothers. She married Ernest Toussaint Welcome, an inventor and entrepreneur, on January 10, 1910, and they moved into in a brownstone in New York City, where they established the Toussaint Conservatory of Art and Music. The first ad for the conservatory appeared in the first issue of the NAACP's journal The Crisis. Van Der Zee stood out during her time because she was the African American owner of a business in Harlem. The couple made films and pictures that recognized African American contributions to War World I. Under the banner of the Toussaint Motion Picture Exchange, they made Doing Their Bit in 1916. Between 1917 and 1918, The Toussaint Pictorial Company published A Pictorial History of the Negro in the Great War, a memorial book that featured Jennie's work. It also included pictures from governmental sources and a few uncredited photos.
Later life
The Toussaint Pictorial Company published one million patriotic postcards of African American soldiers. After the war ended, the War Savings Stamp Committee accepted Van Der Zee's painting, Charge of the Colored Divisions, for use as a poster. Van Der Zee and her husband copyrighted the work in August 1918. No physical copies are known to exist. Van Der Zee died in 1956.
