Object number1987.53.45
C. Day-Lewis, London
Date1951
Artist
Rosalie Thorne McKenna
(American, 1918-2003)
CultureAmerican
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 9 x 6 7/8 in. (22.9 x 17.5 cm)
Matted: 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm)
Matted: 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm)
Credit LineGift of the artist
On View
Not on viewPeriod20th c
Classification(s)
InscribedOn reverse of mount, possibly by artist, upper center in ink: C DAY LEWIS / LONDON 1951; by unidentified hand, lower right corner in pencil: 87.53.45
MarkingsOn reverse of mount, stamped center: Photo By: / ROLLIE MCKENNA / ONE HANCOX STREET / STONINGTON, CONN. / AREA CODE 203 533-0110/2126 / Not To Be Reproduced / Without Permission / Please Credit With Photo; stamped lower right corner: TOD GALLERY / Custom Framing / 163 Water Street / Stonington, Ct. 06378 / Phone (203) 353-2010
BibliographyJohn Malcolm Brinnin and Bill Read, The Modern Poets, An American-British Anthology (McGraw-Hill, 1963), 204. ProvenanceGift of the artistVassar Exhibitions
Label TextIn 1996 McKenna began a book project that, though never completed, was a culmination of her work photographing people for half a century. The book was intended to feature portraits of writers that she had made in the 1950s shown side- by-side with later photographs of the same people. The book was to be titled Poets and Writers of an Age—Their Reflections on Life and Aging. A mock-up survives, but the book was never published. In her autobiography, McKenna recalled the seed of this idea in an assignment for America Illustrated magazine in 1957. The assignment brought her to a retirement community in Florida, where the vibrancy of life took her by surprise. “This assignment made such a lasting impression on me,” she wrote, “I decided that as I aged, I would take pictures of others as they, too, grew older.” Though the book was never completed, several pairs of portraits made many years apart show McKenna’s longtime interest in aging. In this gallery, they are paired as they might have been in the unrealized book. Testaments to decades-long friendships, these pictures reveal her deep commitment to expressing people’s humanity.
DescriptionMounted to board, hinged to the backing mat on the reverse of mount along the upper edge. Man in suit sitting with hands folded on book on table in front of him and looks off to his leftTerms
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