Object Details
- Artist
- Irving Penn, 16 Jun 1917 - 7 Oct 2009
- Sitter
- Jessye Norman, 15 Sep 1945 -30 Sep 2019
- Exhibition Label
- Born Augusta, Georgia
- Jessye Norman was one of the twentieth century’s greatest sopranos. She received five Grammy Awards, including one for lifetime achievement in 2006, and a host of other honors. A graduate of Howard University and the Peabody Conservatory, Norman went on to perform around the world, her rich and opulent voice bringing audiences to their feet at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Royal Opera House in London, and the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. While earlier Black singers of opera and classical music, such as Sissieretta Jones, Marian Anderson, and Leontyne Price, had experienced success before her, Norman later lamented that the music com- munity seemed slow to change. “Racial barriers in our world are not gone, so why can we imagine that racial barriers in classical music and the opera world are gone?” Irving Penn photographed Norman for Vanity Fair in the fall of 1983, when she was performing at the Met.
- Nacida en Augusta, Georgia
- Jessye Norman fue una de las grandes sopranos del siglo XX. Recibió cinco premios Grammy, incluido uno en 2006 por su trayectoria artística, además de otros numerosos honores. Egresada de la Universidad Howard y el Conservatorio Peabody, Norman tuvo una carrera internacional, cautivando al público con su voz opulenta en salas como la Scala de Milán, la Royal Opera House de Londres y la Metropolitan Opera de Nueva York. Aunque otras cantantes afroamericanas de ópera y música clásica como Sissieretta Jones, Marian Anderson y Leontyne Price lograron éxito antes que ella, Norman lamentó que el cambio social dentro de la comunidad musical parecía lento. “Si las barre- ras raciales no han desaparecido en nuestro mundo, ¿cómo podemos imaginar que hayan desaparecido en el ámbito de la música clásica y la ópera?”. Irving Penn fotografió a Norman para Vanity Fair en el otoño de 1983, mientras se presentaba en la Metropolitan Opera.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Irving Penn
- May 20, 1983 (printed 1985)
- Object number
- NPG.88.70.39
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © 1983 The Conde Nast Publications Inc.
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Platinum-palladium print
- Dimensions
- Image: 49.2 × 48.2 cm (19 3/8 × 19")
- Sheet/Mount: 63.5 × 56 cm (25 × 22 1/16")
- Mat: 91.5 × 66.1 cm (36 × 26")
- Place
- United States\New York\Kings\New York
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Interior
- Jessye Norman: Female
- Jessye Norman: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Music\Musician\Singer\Opera singer
- Jessye Norman: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Music\Musician\Singer\Soprano
- Jessye Norman: Performing arts awards\Grammy
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.88.70.39
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm40923f6b1-af1f-416e-b5bc-7eaf24f964a7
