Object number1983.6

Dylan Thomas

Date1953

Artist Rosalie Thorne McKenna (American, 1918-2003)

CultureAmerican

MediumGelatin silver print, printed 1983

DimensionsImage: 14 9/16 x 12 3/16 in. (37 x 31 cm)
Sheet: 17 11/16 x 16 1/8 in. (45 x 41 cm)
Matted: 22 x 16 in. (55.9 x 40.6 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Francis Woolsey and Helen Silkman Bronson, class of 1924, Fund

On View

Not on view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

SignedOn window mat, lower right corner in pencil: Rollie McKenna

InscribedOn verso, by artist, lower right corner in pencil: Dylan Thomas / New York, 1953; 1964; on verso, by unidentified hand, lower left corner in pencil: VCAG 83.6

MarkingsOn verso, stamped lower right: © Rollie Mc Kenna; stamped lower right: COPYRIGHTED PHOTO BY / ROLLIE McKENNA / ONE HANCOX STREET / STONINGTON, CT 06378 / TEL. (203) 535-0110/2126 / © ROLLIE McKENNA / MUST APPEAR WITH PHOTO

BibliographyRosalie Thorne McKenna, Rollie McKenna: A Life in Photography (New York: Knopf, 1991), 133. John Malcolm Brinnin, Dylan Thomas in America (Little, Brown & Co, 1955), cover. Variant: Dylan Thomas, Dylan Thomas: portrait of the artist as a young dog (New Directions, 1968), cover. The Frish Times Dublin (September 4 1982), page unknown. The Plain Dealer (August 22 1982), 30. The Yorkshire Post Leeds (September 9 1982), page unknown. Rollie McKenna, Portrait of Dylan, A Photographer's Memoir (Stemmer House, 1982), 70. “Our poets must learn how to sing,” The Day, New London, CT (September 15 1985), page unknown. Bill Read, The Days of Dylan Thomas A Pictorial Biography (McGraw-Hill, 1964), 168. Variants: Rollie McKenna, Portrait of Dylan, A Photographer's Memoir (Stemmer House, 1982), 72-77. Saturday Review (May 15, 1971), 52. “Photographer Rollie McKenna shoots the greats,” The Day, New London, CT (May 10 1976), 22.

Vassar Exhibitions

Alumni Reunion Exhibition (1990)

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.

DescriptionPortrait of a man smoking with his hand raised holding a pencil

Terms

male

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