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| Tempe Manning Self Portrait 1939 oil on canvas Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney |
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| Rita Angus Self Portrait 1939 oil on canvas National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Alfred Eisenstaedt Fashion Model in Lace Dress 1939 gelatin silver print San Diego Museum of Art |
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| Gisèle Freund Vita Sackville-West 1939 dye transfer print National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| James Montgomery Flagg Way Down East Apple Pie 1939 oil on canvas (magazine illustration) New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
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| James Montgomery Flagg San Francisco Treasure Island Salad 1939 oil on canvas (magazine illustration) New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
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| Martin Munkácsi Katherine Hepburn and her two sisters 1939 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Leon Gilmour Cement Finishers 1939 wood-engraving New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
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| Sam Tata The Arrow 1939 gelatin silver print National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Graham Bell Whitfield Street Baths 1939 oil on canvas National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| Richard Rathbone Boys Swimming in the Ohio River 1939 watercolor on paper Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, Connecticut |
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| Max Ernst Cassandra leaves the Stage 1939 lithograph National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| John Wardell Power L'Homme Calculateur 1939 linocut National Gallery of Australia, Canberra |
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| Henry Landon Parkhurst Illustration to Spicy Western Stories Magazine 1939 oil on canvas New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
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| Frank Rudolph Paul Illustration to Science Fiction Magazine 1939 oil on canvas New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut |
from The Quest
They noticed that virginity was needed
To trap the unicorn in every case,
But not that, of those virgins who succeeded,
A high percentage had an ugly face.
The hero was as daring as they thought him,
But his peculiar boyhood missed them all;
The angel of a broken leg had taught him
The right precautions to avoid a fall.
So in presumption they set forth alone
On what, for them, was not compulsory,
And stuck half-way to settle in some cave
To trap the unicorn in every case,
But not that, of those virgins who succeeded,
A high percentage had an ugly face.
The hero was as daring as they thought him,
But his peculiar boyhood missed them all;
The angel of a broken leg had taught him
The right precautions to avoid a fall.
So in presumption they set forth alone
On what, for them, was not compulsory,
And stuck half-way to settle in some cave
With desert lions to domesticity,
Or turned aside to be absurdly brave,
And met the ogre and were turned to stone.
And met the ogre and were turned to stone.
– W.H. Auden (1940)