Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Apr 2, 2016–Apr 2, 2017

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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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In his writings and photographs, Carl Van Vechten documented the burgeoning cultural life of Harlem during the 1920s and 1930s. Among white New Yorkers, he heralded the neighborhood and helped promote the Harlem Renaissance while also problematically reinforcing stereotypical associations of the primitive and the exotic with African American life. Yet his portraits of cultural figures brought new attention to their subjects and often are instilled with grace and humanity. This photograph is part of a group in which he depicted the stars of Four Saints in Three Acts, an opera written by composer Virgil Thomson and poet Gertrude Stein, during the production’s six-week Broadway run. The opera became a groundbreaking event in the history of modernism, notable for the avant-garde wordplay of Stein’s libretto, artist Florine Stettheimer’s flamboyant costume and set designs, and, above all, the black cast led by renowned Harlem choral director Eva Jessye.

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View 383 works

Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Starstruck

4

PORTRAIT OF AN ACTOR IN “FOUR SAINTS IN THREE ACTS”, 1934

Artists

Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection

On the Hour

Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Starstruck

4

PORTRAIT OF AN ACTOR IN “FOUR SAINTS IN THREE ACTS”, 1934

Artists

Explore works from this exhibition in the Whitney's collection

Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection