Fifties Individuals

Philippe Halsman
Marlon Brando
1950
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Philippe Halsman
Zsa Zsa Gabor
1951
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Richard Avedon
Buster Keaton
1952
gelatin silver print
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

 

Elizabeth Catlett
Ethel Rosenberg
1952
drawing
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Carl Van Vechten
Leontyne Price
1952
photogravure
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Chim (David Seymour)
Kirk Douglas
1954
(inkjet print produced from original negative in 2006)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Gordon Parks
Gloria Vanderbilt, New York
1954
gelatin silver print
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Ben Shahn
J. Robert Oppenheimer
1954
drawing
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Leigh Wiener
Billie Holiday
1954
gelatin silver print
National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC

John Koch
Princess Margaret
1955
oil on panel
(commissioned by Time magazine)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Kay Bell Reynal
T.S. Eliot
1955
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Henry Koerner
Julie Harris
1955
oil on canvas
(commissioned by Time magazine)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Elmer Bischoff
Richard Diebenkorn
ca. 1956
ink on paper
Archives of American Art, Washington DC

Leon Levinstein
West Side
1957
gelatin silver print
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Boris Artzybasheff
George Beadle
1958
tempera on panel
(commissioned by Time magazine)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Bernard Safran
Jean Thom
1958
oil on panel
(commissioned by Time magazine)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Man Ray
Naomi Savage
ca. 1959
color transparency back-coated with gouache
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

from Near The New Whitney

In the Meatpacking District,

Not far from the new Whitney,

In a charming restaurant,

I showed how charming I can be.

I showed how blue my eyes can be. 

I showed I can be Dante first catching sight of Beatrice.

The maître d' was new to me.

The sudden sight of her, so gently lovely,

Threw me at the pressed-tin ceiling, where I stuck.

I asked her where I was, her name was Emily.

I don't know who the ceiling was.

I doubt pressed tin was what it was. 

I was moonstruck.

Now I could only look up.

American art used to be risky.

American art used to be frisky

And drink a lot of whisky.

I looked up at Emily, not far from the new Whitney.

Seventy years ago

There were violently drunkard painters downtown who,

Many of them, painted violently

In the Hamptons also.

Now they were in the splendid new Whitney, dead

Instead.

– Frederick Seidel (2018)

Auteur

Irving Penn
Peter Ustinov, New York
1947
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Jerome Robbins, New York
1948
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Joe Louis, New York
1948
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Spanish Hat by Tatiana du Plessix, New York
(model: Dovima)
1949
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Dior Dress, New York
(model: Dorian Leigh)
1949
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Balenciaga Mantle-Coat, Paris
(model: Lisa Fonssagrives Penn)
1950
platinum-palladium print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Cecil Beaton, London
1950
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Cordonnier, Paris
1950
platinum-palladium print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Rempailleurs, Paris
1950
platinum-palladium print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Yves Saint-Laurent, Paris
1957
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Picasso at La Californie, Cannes
1957
platinum-palladium print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Irving Penn
Hippie Family, San Francisco
1967
platinum-palladium print
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Irving Penn
Naomi Sims in Scarf
ca. 1969
gelatin silver print
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Irving Penn
Platinum Test-Materials 5/17
1989
collage of platinum-palladium prints
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Irving Penn
Platinum Test-Materials 8/17
1989
collage of platinum-palladium prints
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Irving Penn
Platinum Test-Materials 10/17
1989
collage of platinum-palladium prints
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

Irving Penn
Platinum Test-Materials 15/17
1989
collage of platinum-palladium prints
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

I write quickly but neatly.  I know that people like my handwriting.  I like writing neatly because I want people to understand my writing.  I am not afraid of print.  I like print, but print cannot convey the same feeling as writing.  I do not like typing.  I do not like shorthand.  I like shorthand when one wants to write things down quickly.  I consider it essential to know shorthand.  I will speak quickly, and my speech will be taken down in shorthand.  I like shorthand.  I do not want shorthand-writers to sacrifice their whole lives to shorthand.  I like the shorthand that takes down Wilson's speeches.  I do not like the shorthand that takes down Lloyd George's speeches.  I like both shorthands because I want people to understand their meaning.  Without Lloyd George's speeches it is not possible to understand Wilson's speeches.  I want Wilson to achieve his aims, because his aims are nearer to truth.  I feel Wilson's death.  I am afraid he might get a bullet through the head or some other part of his body that will not be able to take it.  

– from The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, written in Russian in 1919, translated by Kyril FitzLyon and edited by Joan Acocella (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999)

Erstwhile

Martin Schoeller
Lance Armstrong
2001
inkjet print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Annie Leibovitz
Lance Armstrong
1999
C-print
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC

Anonymous Photographer
Julia Marlowe in Colinette
1899
gelatin silver print
Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC

Arnold Genthe
Julia Marlowe
ca. 1911
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Pach Brothers Studio (New York)
Julia Marlowe
ca. 1900
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Alfred J. Frueh
Julia Marlowe as Juliet
ca. 1910
gouache and ink on board
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Alfred J. Frueh
Julia Marlowe as Juliet
ca. 1910
hand-colored linocut
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Mark Seliger
Kurt Cobain
1993
platinum-palladium print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Jesse Frohman
Kurt Cobain
1993
inkjet print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Arnold Genthe
Greta Garbo
1925
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

George Hurrell
Greta Garbo
1930
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Clarence Sinclair Bull
Greta Garbo
1939
gelatin silver print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Leo Fuchs
Paul Newman
1959
inkjet print
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

Ralph Schraivogel
Paul Newman at Filmpodium der Stadt, Zürich
2001
screenprint and lithograph (poster)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Anonymous Photographer
Isadora Duncan
ca. 1910
gelatin silver print (postcard)
National Museum of American History, Washington DC

Arnold Genthe
The Roll Call
(Isadora Duncan)
1918
lithograph (poster)
National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC

from In Memory of the Vertuous and Learned Lady Madre de Teresa 

that sought an early Martyrdome.

Since tis not to bee had at home, 

Sheel travell to a martyrdome. 

No home for her confesses shee,

But where shee may A martyr bee.

    Sheel to the Moores, and trade with them,

    For this unvalued Diadem,

    Shee offers them her dearest breath,

    With Christs name int in change for death.

    Sheel bargain with them, and will give

    Them God, and teach them how to live

    In him, or if they this denye,

    For him sheel teach them how to dye.

    So shall shee leave amongst them sowne,

    Her Lords blood, or at least her owne.

Farewell then all the world, adieu,

Teresa is no more for you:

Farewell all pleasures, sports and joyes,

Never till now esteemed toyes.

Farewell what ever deare may bee,

Mothers armes, or fathers knee.

Farewell home, and farwell home:

Shees for the Moores and Martyrdome.

    Sweet not so fast, Loe thy faire spouse,

    Whom thou seek'st with so swift vowes

    Calls thee back, and bids thee come,

    T' embrace a milder Martyrdome.

Blest powers forbid thy tender life,

Should bleed upon a barbarous knife.

Or some base hand have power to race,

Thy Breasts chast cabinet; and uncase

A soule kept there so sweet. O no,

Wise heaven will never have it so. 

Thou art Loves victim, and must dye

A death more misticall and high.

Into Loves hand then shalt let fall,

A still surviving funerall. 

– Richard Crashaw, Steps to the Temple (1648)