Kodak-Retina snapshot by William Burroughs, living room 1953 Lower East Side, Jackson Mac Low portrait with recorder by Iris Brodey on wall. We were working on Bills S.A. letters. I had job on N.Y. World Telegram.

1953, printed later

Allen Ginsberg

Associated Names
Allen Ginsberg

Artist, American, 1926 - 1997

The image depicts a man's upper body in a seated position, slightly turned to the side and facing the camera. He has short, neatly combed hair and is wearing glasses that partially obscure his face due to lighting. His facial expression is neutral, and the details of his face are obscured by light and shadow. He is wearing a light-colored shirt with a spread collar and no visible accessories. The background shows a patterned wall with floral wallpaper and a faintly visible framed portrait to the right. At the bottom of the image, there is visible handwritten text or a caption.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gary S. Davis

  • Dimensions

    image: 17.1 x 23.2 cm (6 3/4 x 9 1/8 in.)
    sheet: 27.8 x 35.5 cm (10 15/16 x 14 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2011.146.17

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Allen Ginsberg Estate; Gary and Ellen Davis, Greenwich, CT; gift to NGA, 2011.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

signed and captioned by artist, across bottom in black ink: Kodak-Retina snapshot by William Burroughs, living room 1953 Lower East Side, Jackson Mac Low / portrait w/recorder by Iris Brodey on wall. We were working on Bills S.A. letters, I had job on / N.Y. World Telegram Allen Ginsberg; on verso, by artist, bottom right in graphite: dark / #12/125 / [strikethrough] Bk5 #12 / 1953; by unknown hand, bottom center: GD-AG-387; bottom right: GDC-627

Wikidata ID

Q64073489

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