Karl Bissinger Photograph of Jeanne Owens 1940’s
Set of two photographs of Jeanne Owens: sold separately is desired.
1. Karl Bissinger (1914-2008) American. Photographer for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Town & Country, shot Gary Cooper, Katherine Hepburn, John Wayne). Portrait of Jeanne Owens in studio, from the famous series of studio portraits by the photographer (artist, athlete, bohemian New Yorker), 1947. Original Vintage Silver Gelatin Print, Name of artist handwritten on verso. 8 x 10 inches, USD$800.
2. Unknown Photographer, Portrait of Jeanne Owens with friend, shot on Fire Island (artist, athlete, bohemian New Yorker), 1947. Original Vintage Silver Gelatin Print. 12 x 11 inches. Part of an estate of mid century archives, mainly containing Fire Island content. USD$425.
” Brooklyn’s hope for the Olympics” Jeanne Owens: Athlete, artist, bohemian New Yorker, National Backstroke Champion in 1938 : a hundred yards in 72 seconds.” – New York Post
“The War Summers, this town, New York, was alive : Auden, St. Exupery, Jewish refugees, Frenchmen waiting to go home. The Central Park Cafe was suddenly full. You heard all languages. Before the war New York was provincial.
And there was Jeanne, floating in and out between New York and Fire Island. ” Quote by Karl Bissinger
Karl Bissinger studied painting before he began taking photographs in the 1940s, and he went on to shoot portraits as well as travel and fashion stories for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Theatre Arts, and Town & Country. He was the staff photographer for the legendary Flair magazine. Bissinger eventually abandoned photography to work for the American Friends Service Committee and the War Resister’s League, where he continues to work today. He lives in New York. Gore Vidal is the author of numerous books including, most recently, The Golden Age, a novel, and The Last Empire, a collection of essays. Catherine Johnson is the art buyer for the Arnold McGrath Worldwide advertising agency in New York. She serves as chair of the photography committee of the National Arts Club in New York.
His Book of Portraits:
This intimate portrait collection captures post-WWII celebrities and bohemians-including Truman Capote, Marlon Brando, Katharine Hepburn, James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal, among many others-during what Vidal calls “our brief golden age.” Shot primarily in New York City during the late 1940s and early 1950s, the era’s luminaries strike a pose in their various apartments, studios and local haunts: Katharine Hepburn lifts her head in the gleaming sunshine of her New York townhouse garden; Henry Miller cooly lights a cigarette with his feet propped up on his desk in Big Sur; and Jean Cocteau glowers from the Paris set of Les Parents terribles. These mid-century snapshots include photographs never before published or not seen in the 40 years since Bissinger retired into obscurity in the late 1950s. 125 illustrations in tritone.
More Info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Bissinger
https://www.oxfordamerican.org/magazine/item/278-debts-of-pleasure
https://alchetron.com/Karl-Bissinger
https://kenneturner.com/tag/karl-bissinger/
https://www.artsy.net/artist/karl-bissinger
http://lastbohemians.blogspot.com/2011/08/karl-bissinger-photographer-and-antiwar.html
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/565274027/signed-the-luminous-years-portraits-at?ref=cart
https://www.nickharvilllibraries.com/store/p1320/The_Luminous_Years%2C_Photographs_by_Karl_Bissinger%2C_Ex_Libris_Gore_Vidal.html