Gabrilowitsch, Ossip. (1878–1936) [Clarke, Mary Dale. (1875–1936)]
Signed Photograph
Original signed doubleweight matte sepia Mary Dale Clarke photograph of the Russian-born pianist and conductor shown in a profile portrait at the keyboard, signed and dated "April, 1920." Very fine, 7.5 x 9.5 inches (19 x 24.1 cm.).A student of Rubinstein, Lyadov, Glazunov and others, Gabrilowitsch was one of the first to record for the reproducing piano Welte-Mignon (1905) and had a major career as piano soloist. From 1910-14, he was conductor of the Munich Konzertverein and later settled in the US, appointed the founding director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1918. In 1909, he married Mark Twain's daughter, Clara Clemens, a singer who appeared with him in recital.
The aesthetic tastes of the photographer Mary Dale Clarke ran to the unconventional, a fact she advertised in her advertising slogan, "specializing in difficult subjects." In 1922 she disavowed interest in the beautiful faces of the common performer, preferring as more artist the plain featured person whose psychology registered readily on his or her features. "The beauty that comes from earnestness or interest which flashes for a moment, dies out, and returns again is much more vivid and striking than that of the even-featured variety." The photographer claimed to capture the souls of sitters. This could apparently be done at some distance from the subject, for she avoided close-up "face" portraits. Her theatrical portraiture featured actresses in modern dress and men in costume. She used diffusion lenses and, like Arnold Genthe whom she admired, thought beauty a kind of aura radiating from a person. (18658)
Signed Photograph Classical Music