Difficult and painful ...

... Book Review: Carl Van Vechten - WSJ.com. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

Van Vechten's reputation today is inseparable from the infamy attached to his one enduring book. Only curiosity or study could lead a reader to his other novels—their titles dated in a different way: "Peter Whiffle," "The Tattooed Countess," "Parties"—but he was an artist of varied accomplishment. The portrait photography to which he devoted himself after giving up writing in 1932, aged 52, is as fresh now as the day it emerged from the darkroom. Practically every black author, performer and socialite of note posed in front of one of Van Vechten's distinctive exotic-print backcloths. (Ralph Ellison was among the few who declined the invitation to sit for him.) He was, moreover, a partygoer of insatiable appetite.