Item of the Week: Emma's Favorite

Portraits of the Fifties by Sanford Roth

While wandering through the stacks of the library, I came across a plain black book that for no particular reason I pulled from its place on the shelf. I had no expectations and was therefore hugely surprised to find striking photographs of familiar faces looking back at me. This book Portraits of the Fifties is a collection of images featuring people who, now remembered as icons of their generation, were at the height of their celebrity. The talented photographer Sanford Roth humanized these artists, actors, scientists, and composers in his work by catching them at their most natural and relaxed state. Many of them were or became his close friends. The most interesting thing about the book is the diversity of the people featured. From a handsome James Dean wearing a cowboy hat to an aged Henri Matisse opening his mail to a brooding Aldous Huxley staring into the camera, Roth’s varied pictures remain both beautiful and haunting.

 - By Emma Tisdale, Library Intern Summer 2009