Kennedy Onassis, Jacqueline. (1929–1994) . Signed Photograph.
Unusual signed original photograph of Jacqueline Kennedy receiving a ceremonial bindi to her forehead during her visit to Jaipur on her goodwill tour of India and Pakistan in March, 1962. While the media devoted widespread coverage to Kennedy's fashion styles, she functioned as an informal diplomat and developed her interest in arts and architecture, returning to India in later years to co-produce a book on Indian art. Uncredited image, likely by Cecil Stoughton, with negative number "R/SO/1" lower right and "Printed in U.S.A." to lower left. Boldly signed in black in to the lower left area of the image and in fine condition. 8 x 10 inches.
From the collection of Paul McMahon, a critic, photographer and artist who worked for more than 13 years touring with Marlene Dietrich as the icon’s stage manager, announcer, dresser, secretary and escort, and later spent 25 years as an arts and entertainment reviewer and photographer with Gay Community News, Esplanade, Tommy’s Connection, The Mirror, Bay Windows and other publications.
According to our consignor, Ralph Hodgdon, this photograph was signed hastily for his husband Paul and at an uncomfortable angle while the page remained in his hands. The signature here is in a few respects obviously unusual: the J is somewhat awkward; the middle of the first name is more cramped than usual; perhaps most unusually, the K is looped, and while we have identified another example (same ink, signed to Stoughton, in the same year of the present image) where this is nearly the case, we have not seen any another of her K formations done in this manner. In other words, it seems like at the start of the writing, there were jagged features as the pen did not flow on the page in the usual way and by the K, Kennedy was allowing the slope of the held out photograph to force her pen into an non-standard formation, keeping it on the page rather than lifting it. The fact is that we have by now handled many thousands of autographs obtained by Paul McMahon and have never more trusted an in-person collection than this one, assembled over more than 50 years exclusively in person, through direct access to every signer, often with supporting photographic documentation of his encounters. We avoid willful thinking when it comes to autographic authenticity, but in this case it is our considered opinion that, however unusual, this is an authentic Kennedy signature.
Kennedy Onassis, Jacqueline. (1929–1994) . Signed Photograph.
Unusual signed original photograph of Jacqueline Kennedy receiving a ceremonial bindi to her forehead during her visit to Jaipur on her goodwill tour of India and Pakistan in March, 1962. While the media devoted widespread coverage to Kennedy's fashion styles, she functioned as an informal diplomat and developed her interest in arts and architecture, returning to India in later years to co-produce a book on Indian art. Uncredited image, likely by Cecil Stoughton, with negative number "R/SO/1" lower right and "Printed in U.S.A." to lower left. Boldly signed in black in to the lower left area of the image and in fine condition. 8 x 10 inches.
From the collection of Paul McMahon, a critic, photographer and artist who worked for more than 13 years touring with Marlene Dietrich as the icon’s stage manager, announcer, dresser, secretary and escort, and later spent 25 years as an arts and entertainment reviewer and photographer with Gay Community News, Esplanade, Tommy’s Connection, The Mirror, Bay Windows and other publications.
According to our consignor, Ralph Hodgdon, this photograph was signed hastily for his husband Paul and at an uncomfortable angle while the page remained in his hands. The signature here is in a few respects obviously unusual: the J is somewhat awkward; the middle of the first name is more cramped than usual; perhaps most unusually, the K is looped, and while we have identified another example (same ink, signed to Stoughton, in the same year of the present image) where this is nearly the case, we have not seen any another of her K formations done in this manner. In other words, it seems like at the start of the writing, there were jagged features as the pen did not flow on the page in the usual way and by the K, Kennedy was allowing the slope of the held out photograph to force her pen into an non-standard formation, keeping it on the page rather than lifting it. The fact is that we have by now handled many thousands of autographs obtained by Paul McMahon and have never more trusted an in-person collection than this one, assembled over more than 50 years exclusively in person, through direct access to every signer, often with supporting photographic documentation of his encounters. We avoid willful thinking when it comes to autographic authenticity, but in this case it is our considered opinion that, however unusual, this is an authentic Kennedy signature.