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9 Portraits of Famous Writers

Rachel Cordasco

Staff Writer

Rachel Cordasco has a Ph.D in literary studies and currently works as a developmental editor. When she's not at her day job or chasing three kids, she's writing reviews and translating Italian speculative fiction. She runs the website sfintranslation.com, and can be found on Facebook and Twitter.

There’s just something about the mingling of artistic media that always puts a smile on my face. I’m thinking, for example, of such works as Pictures at an Exhibition (completed in 1874) by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, or Emile Zola’s novel The Masterpiece (1886) based loosely on the life of Paul Paul Cézanne (and if you’re into novels featuring art and artists, see this earlier Book Riot post). But above all, I just love love love paintings of famous writers because they offer alternate windows into these literary lives. Each artist approaches his/her subject with a necessarily unique perspective, and the outcome is always fascinating.

For your viewing pleasure, therefore, I present nine portraits of famous writers by (mostly) famous painters (and yes, Manet shows up a lot here- dude must have really loved the writers). I’m sure there are many more out there, so tell us about them in the comments! The more the merrier!

small_theodore-dreiser

 Theodore Dreiser by Henry Varnum Poor (1933); source

 

portrait-of-gertrude-stein-1906

 Gertrude Stein (1905-6) by Pablo Picasso; source

 

portrait-of-emile-zola-1868

 Portrait of Emile Zola (1868) by Edouard Manet; source

 

ManetMallarme

Stéphane Mallarmé (1876) by Edouard Manet; source

Beatrice-Hastings

Beatrice Hastings (1914) by Amedeo Modigliani; source

bakstswilla

Willa Cather (1923) by Leon Bakst; source

477px-Charles_Dickens_by_Frith_1859

Charles Dickens (1859) by William Powell Frith; source

400px-Herman_Melville

Herman Melville (1870) by Joseph Eaton; source

180px-Edouard_Manet_Georges_Moore

George Moore (1879) by Edouard Manet; source

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