Object Details
- Exhibition Label
- For cover artists like Chaliapin, the mastery of their art was in conveying the essence of the cover story while capturing an insightful likeness. Chaliapin’s assignment for the December 20, 1948, cover of Time was especially challenging, as he had to portray the lovely actress Olivia de Havilland in her role as a woman with schizophrenia in the new motion picture The Snake Pit. Although she had won an Academy Award for Best Actress the year before in To Each His Own, de Havilland was only just reaching her stride in a career that would span three more decades. Chaliapin’s solution for this cover was a double portrait. He was of one mind with the cover story writer, who noted, "One of the most striking things in The Snake Pit is its faces—the blanched, defenseless, suspicious, suffering faces, oddly but not artily assembled, which form the tragic chorus to the story."
- Collection Description
- In 1978, Time magazine donated approximately eight hundred works of original cover art to the National Portrait Gallery. The museum is dedicated to telling the stories of individuals who have shaped the United States, and the Time Collection—featuring prominent international figures and events—enriches our understanding of the United States in a global context.
- En 1978, la revista Time donó a la National Portrait Gallery cerca de 800 obras de arte originales creadas para sus portadas. Nuestro museo se dedica a narrar la historia de figuras que han contribuido a forjar el desarrollo de Estados Unidos, y es así que la Colección Time, que incluye retratos de importantes personalidades internacionales, nos ayuda a comprender mejor a nuestra nación en un contexto global.
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Artist
- Boris Chaliapin, 22 Sep 1904 - 18 May 1979
- Sitter
- Olivia de Havilland, 1 Jul 1916 - 26 Jul 2020
- Date
- 1948
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Mrs. Boris Chaliapin
- Medium
- Gouache on board
- Dimensions
- Image: 30.4 x 27.3 cm (11 15/16 x 10 3/4")
- Mat: 55.9 x 40.6 cm (22 x 16")
- Type
- Painting
