Dorothy Parker
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Object Details
- Artist
- George Platt Lynes, 15 Apr 1907 - 6 Dec 1955
- Sitter
- Dorothy Parker, 22 Aug 1893 - 7 Jun 1967
- Exhibition Label
- Born Long Branch, New Jersey
- “There’s a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words,” claimed writer and magazine editor Dorothy Parker. One of the most caustic literary figures of her age, Parker wrote for Vogue and Vanity Fair before becoming a founding editor of the New Yorker in 1925. She published three volumes of sarcastic poetry, including Sunset Gun (1928) and Death and Taxes (1931). Her most successful short story, “Big Blonde,” won the O. Henry Award in 1929. In the 1930s, Parker began writing screenplays, including the original version of A Star Is Born (1937), for which she and her co-writer received an Academy Award nomination.
- “Friend of Dorothy,” gay slang for a fellow homosexual, is partly attributed to Parker’s cultivation of close friendships with openly gay men, including photographer George Platt Lynes, who made this portrait a year before The Portable Dorothy Parker was published.
- Nacida en Long Branch, Nueva Jersey
- “Hay una gran distancia entre el ingenio y el chiste. En el ingenio hay verdad; el chiste es mera calistenia con palabras”, decía la escritora y editora de revistas Dorothy Parker, una de las figuras literarias más cáusticas de su época. Luego de escribir para Vogue y Vanity Fair, Parker pasó a ser editora fundadora de The New Yorker en 1925. Publicó tres libros de poesía sarcástica, incluidos Cañonazo de retreta (1928) y La muerte y los impuestos (1931). Su cuento más exitoso, “Big Blonde”, ganó el Premio O. Henry en 1929. En la década de 1930 empezó a escribir guiones para cine, entre ellos la versión original de A Star Is Born (1937), por la cual ella y su coautor fueron nominados para el Oscar.
- En la jerga gay, un “amigo de Dorothy” es un homosexual, y esto se atribuye en parte a que ella cultivó buenas amistades con hombres abiertamente gay, incluido el fotógrafo George Platt Lynes, quien la retrató un año antes de publicarse The Portable Dorothy Parker.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- 1943
- Object number
- NPG.89.88
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © Estate of George Platt Lynes
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 22.8 × 19 cm (9 × 7 1/2")
- Mount: 35.5 × 27.8 cm (14 × 10 15/16")
- Mat: 45.7 × 35.6 cm (18 × 14")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Costume\Jewelry\Necklace
- Interior
- Dorothy Parker: Female
- Dorothy Parker: Literature\Writer\Poet
- Dorothy Parker: Literature\Writer\Novelist
- Dorothy Parker: Literature\Writer\Screenwriter
- Dorothy Parker: Literature\Writer\Essayist
- Dorothy Parker: Literature\Literary critic
- Dorothy Parker: Performing Arts\Theater critic
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.89.88
- Metadata Usage (text)
- Usage conditions apply
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm40615f16a-3e20-484f-9a10-3d1b2bfd00dc
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