Joseph Papp

Object Details

Exhibition Label

When Joe Papp originated the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1956, his intent was to cultivate an audience broader than the middle class mainstream who flooded Broadway theaters in the mid-1950s-to reach those "who might never have seen a play before and who were unable or unwilling to pay." By the 1960s, Papp had become a catalyst for alternative theater, most notably the 1967 "American tribal love-rock musical" Hair. The Shakespeare Festival produced the phenomenally successful musical A Chorus Line at Papp's Public Theater in 1975, but his repertory also included jazz workshops, chamber music, puppet shows, and a wide range of classic and contemporary theater. His commitment to multicultural entertainment helped to change the face of American theater from the 1960s onward.

Provenance

(Robert Miller, New York); purchased 1994 NPG

Data Source

National Portrait Gallery

Artist

Alice Neel, 28 Jan 1900 - 13 Oct 1984

Sitter

Joseph Papp, 22 Jun 1921 - Nov 1991

Date

1964

Credit Line

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of Richard Neel and Hartley Neel

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

Stretcher: 106 x 75.6 x 2.5cm (41 3/4 x 29 3/4 x 1")

Frame: 128.3 x 97.8 x 7cm (50 1/2 x 38 1/2 x 2 3/4")

Type

Painting