Julien Levy
Julien Levy (1906–1981) was one of the most influential art dealers of the twentieth century and an impassioned champion of Surrealism, experimental film, and photography. The Julien Levy Gallery, which he opened in Manhattan in 1931 and closed in 1949, played an essential role in the shift of the cultural avant-garde from Paris to New York. Among the artists he exhibited (many for the first time in New York) were Berenice Abbott, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joseph Cornell, Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, Walker Evans, Frida Kahlo, Man Ray, Lee Miller, Ben Shahn, and Dorothea Tanning.
Tanning recalled that Levy's persona "was a magnet for adjectives. They swarmed around him, clung to his profile (lovely to draw), hair (shiny and black), silhouette (slim, gracile), the ensemble elegant, suave, debonair, elusive, without any of them, or even all of them together, pinning him down." Berenice Abbot made this portrait of Levy in Paris, just after he left Harvard to sail for Europe with Marcel Duchamp. His head is shaved as an homage to his father-in-law, the Dada poet-boxer Arthur Cravan, who shaved his head every summer and as a visible sign of Levy's avant-garde aspirations.
Tanning recalled that Levy's persona "was a magnet for adjectives. They swarmed around him, clung to his profile (lovely to draw), hair (shiny and black), silhouette (slim, gracile), the ensemble elegant, suave, debonair, elusive, without any of them, or even all of them together, pinning him down." Berenice Abbot made this portrait of Levy in Paris, just after he left Harvard to sail for Europe with Marcel Duchamp. His head is shaved as an homage to his father-in-law, the Dada poet-boxer Arthur Cravan, who shaved his head every summer and as a visible sign of Levy's avant-garde aspirations.
Artwork Details
- Title: Julien Levy
- Artist: Berenice Abbott (American, Springfield, Ohio 1898–1991 Monson, Maine)
- Date: 1930
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: 24.8 x 19 cm (9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Purchase, Jennifer and Joseph Duke Gift, 1999
- Object Number: 1999.38
- Rights and Reproduction: © Berenice Abbott / Commerce Graphics Ltd. Inc.
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
More Artwork
Research Resources
The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.