Little Pictures, Big Lives: Snapshots of American Artists–LISTEN
Whether you’re on vacation or stay-cation this summer, chances are you’re taking pictures. Smartphones make picture-taking easier and more popular than ever. But in earlier years, photography was more of an event. At the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, an exhibition called “Little Pictures, Big Lives” shows snapshots from the 1920s through the ’60s. And many of the people in these photos happen to be some of this country’s greatest artists.
Poking through the archive folders — in there with the letters, diaries and documents — curator Merry Foresta came upon a snapshot of some college kids on the beach. Three pretty girls in bathing suits; over on the left side, inspecting the sand, is a guy in a long-sleeved turtle neck and dark-rimmed glasses.
It’s Andy Warhol before he became Andy Warhol.
Jerry Roberts
