by Geo Ong
The other night I was scouring the shelves of East Village Books and found a thin collection of portraits called Writers. The book’s back cover synopsis sums it up perfectly:
Writers at home, working at their desks, or in cafés, in the street or the countryside, at public events. From official portraits to unconventional snapshots, the greatest photographers cast a friendly eye on the literary world and present a fresh view of fifty writers who have left their mark on the 20th century.
These photographs were all taken under the commission of Magnum Photos, an international photographic cooperative founded in 1947 by photographers Henri-Cartier Bresson, Robert Capa, David Seymour, George Rodger, and William Vandivert. Magnum Photos continues to put out excellent work in the art of street photography and, in essence, the capturing of truth. Below, I share with you some of my favourites from Writers. (The cover of the book, by the way, is a photograph of Vladimir Nabokov taken by Philippe Halsman, handling what appears to be a butterfly net.)
Samuel Beckett, during a rehearsal of 'Waiting for Godot'. Bruce Davidson, 1964
George Davis and Carson McCullers by Henri Cartier-Bresson
Tennessee Williams for the Broadway first night of 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. W. Eugene Smith, 1948
William Burroughs's typewriter. Nicolas Tikhomiroff, 1970
Francoise Sagan. David Seymour, 1956
Great pictures! If you like street photography, you should check out vivianmaier.com. Awesome story and incredible images.
Thank you, Laura! I hadn’t heard of Vivian Maier, but these shots are beautiful! I’ve always thought capturing everyday people in their everyday lives erases what we always see as mundane.
Thank you!
- Margaret
What a fabulous collection. I love seeing artists in their “natural habitat.” I found a Stravinsky book once that showed photos he’d taken of himself in the buff… apparently he liked to do gymnastics (I think it was gymnastics) and was quite proud of his physique. Imagine that!
Let’s hope it was gymnastics! I recently went on an open studio tour in Colorado. Most of the artists workspaces were in their homes . To me, it was just as interesting to see their living room as it was to see their work. “So this is where they were sitting when they had that idea….”
- Margaret
Oh, I love open studios too. I already take a voyeuristic pleasure in looking into other people’s homes, but when it’s artists’ homes it’s just that much more thrilling!
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