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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Black and white photo of a woman standing with two elephants.

As a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar, Richard Avedon set the mid-century standard for feminine style and beauty. This iconic photograph of the renowned model Dovima flanked by a pair of elephants demonstrates his signature balance of aesthetic virtuosity and compositional whimsy. The image is a study in contrasts: between Dovima’s diaphanous Christian Dior gown and the elephants’ wrinkled skin, the graceful arc of her figure and their thick bodies, her outstretched arms and their chained legs. Proclaiming the power of an elegant woman, Avedon shows Dovima subduing the great animals through touch alone. Critic Arthur Danto later described the photograph as “so dense with possibilities erotic, aesthetic, and psychological that it stands as a portrait of an inextinguishable wish and a metaphor of empowerment.”

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Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Starstruck

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DOVIMA WITH ELEPHANTS, CIRQUE D’HIVER, PARIS, 1955

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Human Interest: Portraits from the Whitney’s Collection

Starstruck

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DOVIMA WITH ELEPHANTS, CIRQUE D’HIVER, PARIS, 1955

Artists

Explore works from this exhibition in the Whitney's collection

Explore works from this exhibition
in the Whitney's collection