Virgil Thomson (sitting)

Miller, Lee (1907-1977)

Item type:

photographic object

Date of creation:

1933

Technique / Medium:

baryta print

Place of creation:

New York (New York, United States)

Description

Portrait photography of Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), US-American composer and critic, by Lee Miller (US-American photographer and photojournalist, 1907-1977). The photo was commissioned by John Houseman (1902-1988) who directed Thomson’s surrealist opera “Four Saints in Three Acts,” (first performance: 7 Feb 1934, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford CT; first New York City performance: 20 Feb 1934, 44th Street Theatre).

People as subjects

Thomson, Virgil (1896-1989) (Composer portrait)

Iconclass

48C713
portrait of composer

RIdIM images

Image URLs

image link 2

Bibliographic references

Penrose, Antony. The lives of Lee Miller (New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999).

Burke, Carolyn. Lee Miller: A life (New York: Knopf, 2005).

Haworth-Booth, Mark. The art of Lee Miller, exhibition catalogue (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007).

Allmer, Patricia. Lee Miller: Photography, surrealism, and beyond (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2016).

Moretto, Kathleen J. and Harold E. Samuel. "Virgil Thomson: Portrait of a composer", The Yale University Library Gazette 55/1 (1980) 31-45.

Tommasini, Anthony. Virgil Thomson: Composer on the aisle (New York: W. W. Norton, 1998).

Watson, Steven. Prepare for saints: Gertrude Stein, Virgil Thomson, and the mainstreaming of American modernism (New York: Random House, 1998).

RIdIM record id

6326