Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Apr 2, 2016–Apr 2, 2017

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Starstruck

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In the early twentieth century, a variety of new, popular leisure pursuits—vaudeville, theater, cabaret, sporting events, and, above all, motion pictures—thrust performers and entertainers into the public eye as never before. For the crowds that flocked to see them, the stars of these entertainments became larger than life. An array of media outlets, from tabloid newspapers to glossy magazines to radio, sprang up to broadcast their exploits to captivated audiences across the nation.

Artists eagerly delved into these new phenomena, making portraits that stoked the public’s growing fascination with celebrities. Photographers in particular took advantage of the commercial opportunities offered by the booming entertainment industry, creating easily reproducible images that seemed both authentic and intimate. Foremost among them, Edward Steichen introduced the aesthetic of the close-up in his stylish magazine portraits of movie stars and other luminaries, including the examples on view in this gallery. Other works chronicle the rise of pioneering African American performers such as jazz innovator Buddy Gilmore and actor Paul Robeson.

Below is a selection of works from Starstruck.

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PAUL ROBESON AS EMPEROR JONES, 1930

Mabel Dwight (1876-1955), Paul Robeson as Emperor Jones, 1930. Lithograph, sheet: 23 × 16 in. (58.4 × 40.6 cm), image: 14 7/8 × 13 in. (37.8 × 33 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Purchase with funds from the Print Committee 93.86

Mabel Dwight’s lithograph depicts Paul Robeson, who gained fame in the 1920s and 1930s as one of the first African American actors to play leading theatrical and film roles, having first attracted notice in the title role of a revival of Eugene O’Neill’s play The Emperor Jones. Dwight admired Robeson, who posed for an oil portrait during the play’s New York run, and she later revisited the subject in this print. Robeson’s pensive expression and military uniform remain unchanged, but Dwight added a tropical background in reference to the play’s setting on a Caribbean island.

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Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

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