Accession Number
1980/1.142

Title
George Jean Nathan and H.L. Mencken, New York

Artist(s)
Irving Penn

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1947; printed 1977

Medium & Support
platinum-palladium print on paper

Dimensions
21 3/4 in x 17 15/16 in (55.25 cm x 45.56 cm);32 3/16 in x 26 3/16 in (81.76 cm x 66.52 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase made possible by the Friends of the Museum of Art

Label copy
Hired by Vogue in 1943, Irving Penn was a noted fashion and portrait photographer. In 1947 he executed this double portrait of two prominent critics and editors, Henry Louis Mencken and George Jean Nathan. Mencken, whose witty and scathing writings touched upon topics ranging from politics to all aspects of American culture, had little tolerance for government and quackery. Principally a drama critic, Nathan was an early champion of the playwright Eugene O’Neill. Together the urbane Nathan and the self-made Mencken co-edited the magazine The Smart Set from 1914 to 1923, when they joined Alfred Knopf in founding a new periodical, The American Mercury. As literary critics for The American Mercury, they published works by F. Scott Fitzgerald and other important writers. Disagreements between the two had ended their relationship some years before Penn photographed them, and some of the old friction between them may be read in the guarded expressions they present to the camera. As a portrait photographer, Penn preferred to pose his sitters in a studio environment employing simple lighting, removed from the distractions of an uncontrolled setting. In this image, set against a simple paper backdrop, Penn focuses the viewer’s attention on the subject, distilling clues of personality and habit through pose, expression and dress. This image appeared in the February 1, 1948 issue of Vogue.
Carole McNamara, Assistant Director for Collections & Exhibitions
on the occasion of the exhibition New York Observed: The Mythology of the City
(July 13 – September 22, 2003)

Subject matter
This double portrait is of the author, editor, and drama critic George Jean Nathan and the journalist, literary critic and author H. L. Mencken. 

This appeared in Vogue as a full-page portrait, commemorating Mencken and Nathan’s collaborative column, “Heliogabulus” written for Smart Set. The critics appear statue like, as pensive busts in the studio. Each man rests their face on one hand; Mencken placed his writing hand on the covered table. Printed on platinum paper, Penn used a limited palette to depict this sculptural portrait. Penn mixed, coated, exposed, and developed the platinum prints himself.

Physical Description
This photograph is a double portrait of two men in dark suits. Both men lean foward, resting an elbow—chin in hand—on a blanketed form in the foreground. In the center of the image is the extended hand of the man on the right.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
Figures
Portraits
St. Peter
authors
boy
child
critics
double portraits
editorial writers
half-length
male
modern and contemporary art
portraits
studio portraits