1969
Over his four-decade career, photographer Jack Mitchell chronicled the changing cultural landscape of mid- to late-20th-century America by capturing the greatest influencers and innovators in the performing and visual arts.
Mitchell, a master of lighting patterns in photography who had his first portrait published at the age of 15, organized more than 5,400 photographic sessions in his lifetime involving a list of sitters that is as astounding as it is long. A veritable roll call of heroes and idols, his studio guests include painters, dancers, actors, comedians, singers, composers, directors, writers, impresarios and anyone else who helped shape the zeitgeist.
During World War II, when he was only 16 years old, Mitchell photographed Veronica Lake for a Daytona newspaper. It was his first celebrity gig, but that didn’t stop the audacious wunderkind from asking the actress to sweep back her signature “peekaboo” locks so he could get her full face in the frame. Lake, who was in Florida to help the war effort and at the peak of her career, politely obliged, and the two later became lifelong friends.
Mitchell, who was openly gay (his long-term partner and manager, Robert Plavik, died in 2009), also struck up a close relationship with Gloria Swanson. From 1960 to 1970, he served as her personal paparazzo, snapping a variety of “candid” shots of the aging but eternally glamorous actress as if she were a pre-mobile/pre-social-media reality star.
The diverse publications in which Mitchell’s work has appeared — in addition to the New York Times, there’s Rolling Stone, Dance Magazine, People, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Time, Harper’s Bazaar and Newsweek — testify to the power of his arresting visual language and its ability to transcend themes and disciplines.
Mitchell also famously shot a series of intimate portraits of John Lennon and Yoko Ono in November 1980, just one month before the Beatles singer was assassinated. A picture from this session became the cover of People’s memorial issue, one of the magazine’s best-selling editions to date.
The showbiz gloss should not distract from Mitchell’s meticulous approach to photography. He insisted on producing his own prints in order to achieve what he deemed museum-quality patina and definition.
“Jack shot many rolls of black-and-white film, and always some color transparencies, of every famous person he photographed,” says Craig Highberger, a friend of the late photographer and the executive director of the Jack Mitchell Archives.
In the world of dance, the field for which Mitchell is best known, his striking and incisive shots of legendary performers and choreographers reflect the visceral energy that these luminaries introduced to the discipline in the 1960s and ’70s, widely considered the Golden Age of American dance theater.
“Jack’s photographs of dancers during his lifetime are a historic chronicle of an amazing period in dance history. He was Alvin Ailey’s dance company photographer from 1961 to 1994,” says Highberger, noting that Mitchell’s collection of 10,000 black-and-white Ailey prints now belongs to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Mitchell’s dance images are at once ethereal and powerfully dynamic. Not only do they evoke movement through elegant poses and disciplined muscular tension, but they also convey an intimate energy radiating directly from his subjects, as if he had magically unlocked a reflective mood or a character trait, without contrivance.
The collection of authentic Jack Mitchell photography on 1stDibs includes his black and white photography, color photography, nude photography and more.
Pop Artist Jack Brusca in his Manhattan studio, signed by Jack Mitchell
By Jack Mitchell
Located in Senoia, GA
11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of pop artist Jack Bruca in his Manhattan studio with recent work, 1969. Signed by Jack Mitchell on the print verso. Comes directly from th...
Silver Gelatin
Artist Lowell Nesbitt in his Manhattan home & studio with his work
By Jack Mitchell
Located in Senoia, GA
11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of painter Lowell Nesbitt in his Manhattan home and studio with his work, 1975. Comes directly from the Jack Mitchell Archives with a certi...
Silver Gelatin
Artist Jack Brusca, studio portrait, signed by Jack Mitchell
By Jack Mitchell
Located in Senoia, GA
11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of artist Jack Brusca, 1969. Signed by Jack Mitchell on the print verso. Comes directly from the Jack Mitchell Archives with a certificate...
Silver Gelatin
Artist Jack Brusca photographed in his studio with new work
By Jack Mitchell
Located in Senoia, GA
11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of artist Jack Brusca, 1969. Comes directly from the Jack Mitchell Archives with a certificate of authenticity. Jack Mitchell, (1925-201...
Silver Gelatin
Artist Josef Levi with his work, signed by Jack Mitchell
By Jack Mitchell
Located in Senoia, GA
11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of artist Josef Levi with his work, 1970. Signed on the print verso by Jack Mitchell. Comes directly from the Jack Mitchell Archives with ...
Silver Gelatin
Pop Artist Jack Brusca in his Manhattan studio, signed by Jack Mitchell
By Jack Mitchell
Located in Senoia, GA
11 x 14" vintage silver gelatin photograph of pop artist Jack Bruca in his Manhattan studio with recent work, 1969. Signed by Jack Mitchell on the print verso. Comes directly from th...
Silver Gelatin
Robert Gordon Unmade Beds NYC 1976
By Fernando Natalici
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Robert Gordon on the set of Unmade Beds (1976) by Fernando Natalici This vintage original photograph was captured on the set of "Unmade Beds" (director Amos Poe) - a seminal cinemat...
Silver Gelatin
Portrait of Francisco Araiza - Vintage Photo by Mike Evans - 1970s
Located in Roma, IT
Vintage photograph realized in 1970s. Copyright by Phonogram Int. Excellent condition.
Photographic Paper
Portrait by Vernn Smith - Vintage Photo - 1960s
Located in Roma, IT
Portrait by Vernn Smith- Vintage Photo is a black-and-white photograph that was realized in the 1960s. Good conditions.
Photographic Paper
Tommy Tune Original Signed Vintage Jack Mitchell Photograph 1974
By Jack Mitchell
Located in Glenford, NY
Jack Mitchell signed vintage mid-20th Century photograph of Broadway and Movie star Tommy Tune. Photo taken in 1974. Highly collectible original vintage silver gelatin print, stamped on back by the photographer "Copyright 1974 JACK MITCHELL 356 East 74, New York City" and signed by Mitchell in 1978. Special Holiday Price. Jack Mitchell (1925 - 2013) was an American photographer of artists, dancers, film and theater performers, musicians and writers. He is hailed as one of the most important dance photographers of the 20th century. His work appeared in major newspapers and on the cover of major magazines, including over 160 covers of Dance Magazine. The Smithsonian called him “the benchmark by which other dance photographers assessed their own work”. Mitchell photographed John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Leonard Bernstein, David Byrne, Truman Capote, Anthony Quinn, Jack Nicholson, Patti LuPone, Keith Haring, Neil Simon, Angela Lansbury, Twyla Tharp, Ned Rorem, Leontyne Price, Alfred Hitchcock, Spalding Gray, Ann Reinking, Andy Warhol, Natalie Wood, and Gloria Swanson. His work appeared in The New York Times, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Life, Newsweek, People, Rolling Stone, Time, Vanity Fair and Vogue, among others. Tommy Tune, born February 28, 1939, is a six-foot, seven-inch tall Broadway tap dancer, actor, singer, choreographer, and director from Wichita Falls, Texas His father was an oil rig worker, horse trainer, and restaurateur. He moved to New York City and within twenty-four hours landed a role in the road company of Irma La Douce...
Silver Gelatin
Roy Lichtenstein Leo Castelli gallery 1969 (announcement)
By Roy Lichtenstein
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Roy Lichtenstein, Castelli Graphics, New York, 1969 announcement: A rare, highly collectible 1960s Roy Lichtenstein announcement published on the occasion of: Roy Lichtenstein, 'Rouen Cathedrals and Haystacks', Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, June 7th, 1969. Medium: Folding announcement on smooth wove paper; offset printed; 1969. Dimensions: 9.25 x 6.5 inches (folded closed). Good overall vintage condition. Unsigned from an edition of unknown. Scarce. _ Roy Lichtenstein was an American artist known for his paintings and prints which referenced commercial art and popular culture icons like Mickey Mouse. Composed using Ben-Day dots—the method used by newspapers and comic strips to denote gradients and texture—Lichtenstein’s work mimicked the mechanical technique with his own hand on a much larger scale. He was a leading figure in establishing the Pop Art movement, along with Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, and Jasper Johns. “I take a cliché and try to organize its forms to make it monumental. The difference is often not great, but it is crucial,” he once said of his work. Born on October 27, 1923 in New York, NY, he studied painting under Reginald Marsh at the Art Students League of New York after graduating from high school. Drafted by the US Army during World War II, while stationed in France, he notably encountered the works of European masters and contemporary artists. After the war, he returned to America and completed his degree at Ohio State University, producing paintings in the vein of Abstract Expressionism. Lichtenstein began teaching art at Rutgers University during the late 1950s, meeting fellow faculty members involved in the New York art scene, including the performance artist Allan Kaprow. By the early 1960s, he had begun showing with Leo Castelli gallery in New York, and made major breakthroughs with works such as Drowning Girl (1963), a satirical take on melodramatic pulp fiction of the era. Themes of irony and cliché prevailed throughout the remainder of Lichtenstein’s career, as evinced in his Haystacks (1969), a take on the canonical series by Claude Monet. The artist died of pneumonia on September 29, 1997 in New York, NY. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Tate Modern in London. Related Categories Roy Lichtenstein Mirror...
Offset
Male Model Close Up
By Andy Warhol
Located in Beverly Hills, CA
From The Jon Gould Collection of Andy Warhol Photographs This work is not signed by the artist, however, each photo is unique and blind embossed “Andy Warhol” in the lower right co...
Silver Gelatin
