Object number1987.53.4

Dylan Thomas, Ivy Williams, Ebie Williams, and villager playing NAP in the pub at Brown's Hotel, Laugharne, Wales

Date1953

Artist Rosalie Thorne McKenna (American, 1918-2003)

CultureAmerican

MediumGelatin silver print with crayon

DimensionsImage: 6 9/16 x 9 1/2 in. (16.7 x 24.1 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 recto, by artist, in white crayon: 3F [within a hand-drawn box]; on recto, by artist in red crayon: 1F [within two hand-drawn boxes] / 2F [within one hand-drawn box]; lower right in white crayon: 4 prints On verso, by artist, lower right corner in ink: Brown's Hotel, Laugharne, Wales / Card game of NAP, 1 to 2. / Ebie Williams, Ivy Williams, Dylan / Thomas + Billy / Williams / 1953; on verso, possibly by artist, left center in pencil: OA38025; on verso, possibly by artist, center left in red pencil: 9206 / L1 / # 21; on verso, by unidentified hand, lower half in pencil: Dylan Thomas, Ivy Williams, her husband, Ebie Williams / and a villager[s crossed out] playing nap in the pub / at Browns Hotel. / Laugharne / Summer[crossed out] / 1953 / September; on verso, by unidentified hand, lower right corner in pencil: 87.53.4

MarkingsOn verso, stamped upper left: ASMP MEMBER / AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHERS; stamped upper center: PHOTO BY: / ROLLIE MCKENNA / 438 EAST 88 STREET / NEW YORK 28, N. Y. / TEL. ENRIGHT 9-3889 / Not To Be Reproduced / Without Permission. / Please Credit With Photo; stamped upper right: PHOTO BY: / R. THORNE MCKENNA / 438 EAST 88 STREET / NEW YORK 28, N. Y. / TEL. ENRIGHT 9-3889 / Not To Be Reproduced / Without Permission. / Please Credit With Photo; ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; stamped lower left: COPYRIGHT

BibliographyVariant: Bill Read, The Days of Dylan Thomas A Pictorial Biography (McGraw-Hill, 1964), 135. Variant: Rollie McKenna, Portrait of Dylan, A Photographer's Memoir (Stemmer House, 1982), 36. American Society of Magazine Photographers’ Picture Annual (1957), page unknown. ProvenanceGift of the artist

Vassar Exhibitions

Making a Life in Photography: Rollie McKenna (Loeb)

Second Sight: Originality, Duplicity, and the Object

Exhibition HistorySecond Sight: Originality, Duplicity, and the Object, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY, January 14 - April 10, 2005

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.

DescriptionThree men and a woman seated in an interior at a table playing cards, printing notations are written on the image

Terms

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