• LIFE

Portraits of the Artists: Painters and Sculptors by LIFE Photographers

2 minute read

It’s always eye-opening to see the men and women behind famous works of art. And yet, while Picasso, Dali, Matisse and perhaps a handful of other “art superstars” are recognized around the world, countless other painters and sculptors of note — including some of the finest, most influential artists of the past century — are, in a sense, invisible. Their works endure; but their look — their faces, the way they held themselves — is often an utter blank in the mind of the casual art enthusiast.

Here, LIFE.com presents a series of portraits of the artists who re-imagined and redefined the way we see the world. Pollock is here, and Picasso, along with Georgia O’Keeffe and even Renoir. But can art aficionados actually identify a photograph of, say, Claes Oldenburg? Jasper Johns? Barbara Hepworth? Giorgio de Chirico?

[MORE: “Georgia O’Keeffe: Invincible”]

What’s wonderful about the pictures here, including those (like the deeply shadowed silhouettes of Hopper and O’Keeffe) in which we perceive a powerful sense of the full figure, rather than discrete details, is that each photo reveals something uniquely essential about the artist. One would be hard-pressed to find two more dissimilar portraits than those of Arshile Gorky and Robert Rauschenberg; but each of those captures an aspect of the artist’s personality and sensibility (Gorky’s moody intensity; Rauschenberg’s exuberance) that, in a heartbeat, helps us see something — even if it’s only a glimpse — of the human being behind the art.


Jasper Johns 1958
Jasper Johns, 1958 Peter Stackpole—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Thomas Hart Benton, 1939
Thomas Hart Benton, 1939. Note: This gallery is best viewed in "Full Screen" mode. See button at right.Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Louise Bourgeois 1983
Louise Bourgeois, 1983. Note: This gallery is best viewed in "Full Screen" mode. See button at right.Ted Thai—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Georgia O'Keeffe photographed on the roof of her Ghost Ranch home in New Mexico, 1967.
Georgia O'Keeffe photographed on the roof of her Ghost Ranch home in New Mexico, 1967.John Loengard—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Marcel Duchamp 1952
Marcel Duchamp, 1952.Gordon Parks—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Georges Braque 1946
Georges Braque, 1946.David E. Scherman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Pablo Picasso 1949
Pablo Picasso, 1949.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Elaine de Kooning 1964
Elaine de Kooning, 1964.Alfred Eisenstaedt—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Alexander Calder 1952
Alexander Calder, 1952.Gordon Parks—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Jackson Pollock 1949
Jackson Pollock, 1949.Martha Holmes—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Marc Chagall 1960
Marc Chagall, 1960.Loomis Dean—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Henri Matisse sculpts a nude in clay, Nice, France, 1951.
Henri Matisse sculpts a nude in clay, Nice, France, 1951.Dmitri Kessel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Roy Lichtenstein 1963
Roy Lichtenstein, 1963.John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Herman Cherry 1946
Herman Cherry, 1946.Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Christo 1968
Christo, 1968.Carlo Bavagnoli—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Salvador Dali 1950
Salvador Dali, 1950.Mark Kauffman—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Giorgio de Chirico 1949
Giorgio de Chirico, 1949.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Willem de Kooning 1945
Willem de Kooning, 1945.Gordon Coster—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Guy du Bois 1949
Guy du Bois, 1949.Herbert Gehr—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Marisol Escobar 1957
Marisol Escobar, 1957.Walter Sanders—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Lyonel Feininger 1951
Lyonel Feininger, 1951.Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Alberto Giacometti 1951
Alberto Giacometti, 1951.Gordon Parks—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Robert Rauschenberg 1951
Robert Rauschenberg, 1951.Wallace Kirkland—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Arshile Gorky 1945
Arshile Gorky, 1945.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Barbara Hepworth 1964
Barbara Hepworth, 1964.Paul Schutzer—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Eva Hesse 1969
Eva Hesse, 1969.Henry Groskinsky—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Edward Hopper 1967
Edward Hopper, 1967.John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Edward Kienholz 1965
Edward Kienholz, 1965.Ralph Crane—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Franz Kline 1954
Franz Kline, 1954.Fritz Goro—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Fernand Leger 1949
Fernand Leger, 1949.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Peter Max 1967
Peter Max, 1967.Yale Joel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Henry Moore 1946
Henry Moore, 1946.Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Isamu Noguchi 1946
Isamu Noguchi, 1946.Eliot Elisofon—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Claes Oldenburg 1960
Claes Oldenburg, 1960.Yale Joel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Man Ray 1947
Man Ray, 1947.Yale Joel—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Ad Reinhardt 1966
Ad Reinhardt, 1966.John Loengard—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Auguste Renoir, 1919
Auguste Renoir, 1919.Pictures Inc.—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Georges Rouault 1949
Georges Rouault, 1949.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Richard Serra 1969
Richard Serra, 1969.Henry Groskinsky—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Ben Shahn 1954
Ben Shahn, 1954.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Jacques Villon 1949
Jacques Villon, 1949.Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

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