Object number1987.53.20

The Beach at Rhossili, Wales

Date1957

Artist Rosalie Thorne McKenna (American, 1918-2003)

CultureAmerican

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 6 x 8 13/16 in. (15.2 x 22.4 cm)
Sheet: 8 x 10 in. (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Matted: 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of the artist

On View

Not on view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

InscribedOn verso, by artist, upper center in ink: The beach at Rhossilly, Wales; lower center: D; by unidentified hand, lower right corner in pencil: 87.53.20

MarkingsOn printed label, on verso center: © Rollie McKenna / 1 Hancox Street / Stonington, CT 06378 / (203) 535-0110/2126

BibliographyRollie McKenna, Portrait of Dylan, A Photographer's Memoir (Stemmer House, 1982), inside front and back covers. Rollie McKenna, Portrait of Dylan, A Photographer's Memoir (Stemmer House, 1982), 96-97. ProvenanceGift of the artist

Vassar Exhibitions

Making a Life in Photography: Rollie McKenna (Loeb)

Label TextMcKenna was intimately aware of photography’s power to preserve the legacy of a creative person: Her photographs of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas helped to launch McKenna’s own career as a sought-after portraitist, yet they also ultimately overshadowed McKenna’s own authorship as a photographer. Her pictures of Thomas from 1952 and 1953 were among precious few images of the elusive writer, helping to preserve his legacy and memory despite an untimely death. Several of these pictures have been reproduced countless times in books and periodicals, not always giving credit to McKenna. The photographs she made while visiting Thomas and his family in Wales reveal her interest not in showing Thomas as a genius toiling away in seclusion, but rather as a man whose work as a writer was intertwined with his identity as a father, husband, and friend. McKenna’s friendship with Caitlin Thomas and their children continued after the writer’s death, resulting in a second visit to Wales in 1957.

DescriptionAerial view of wide shoreline where a few people are walking and the dark countryside meets the shore

Terms

Gower

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu