20 photos that define ‘American Cool’
Photo of James Dean by Roy Schatt. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Credited with bringing the word into the modern American vernacular, “I’m cool” wasn’t Young’s reference to the sunglasses he wore day and night on stage, or the saxophone slung across his shoulder. It was his response to a divided society, a way of saying that he was still in control.
Photo of Billie Holliday by Bob Willoughby. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
“These are the successful rebels of American culture,”said Dinerstein.
Photo of Miles Davis by Aram Avakian. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
How do you whittle American history down into 100 names of cool? For starters, you must recognize that “cool” isn’t synonymous with popularity, innovation or greatness. And while it’s true that the image of James Dean in a leather jacket, cigarette perched on his lips, may be the embodiment of cool, cool isn’t simply an aesthetic; it’s an identity.
Photo of Marlon Brando by Philippe Halsman. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
“First,” Dinerstein said, “an originality of artistic vision as established through a signature style, which is to say their artistic vision cannot be separate from their personality. Second, that in a given historical moment, they were perceived as a cultural rebel. Third, that they have high profile recognition. Fourth, that they have a recognized cultural legacy.”
Photo of Steve McQueen by William Claxton. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
“Photography is really the medium through which the world came to understand cool,” said Goodyear.
Goodyear explains that it’s the photos that introduced so much of the world to “these stylish rebels” and captured their iconicity in a frame.
Photo of Frank Sinatra by Herman Leonard. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
“When we kept looking for pictures of the cool George Carlin,” Goodyear said, “We didn’t find the picture that suggested his public cool. Most pictures made him look awkward and downright goofy.”
Photo of Joan Didion by Julian Wasser. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Dinerstein and Goodyear didn’t pull names from a hat. They talked long and hard with their students, family and friends, combing through their suggestions and asking them to settle debates about whether John Travolta was cool enough (he was, and is featured in the exhibit wearing his “Saturday Night Fever” best while seated in a graffiti laden subway car), and if Queen Latifah or Missy Elliott should represent women in hip-hop (the votes went to Elliott, Latifah landed on the alternative 100 list).
“We were not going to play politics just to create a gender mix,” said Dinerstein.
Photo of Jimi Hendrix by Linda McCartney. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
“‘Cool’ has always been a grassroots, bottom-up phrase,” said Dinerstein, “It’s something new an adolescent generation gloms onto immediately as something that separates them from their parents.”
“American Cool” runs through September 7th at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Check out more photos from the exhibit below:
**********
Photo of Kurt Cobain by Mark Seliger. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery
Photo of Audrey Hepburn by Philippe Halsman. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery
Photo of Elvis Presley by Marshutz Stanley. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of Bessie Smith by Carl Van Vechten. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of David Byrne by Marcia Resnick. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of Muddy Waters by Charles H. Stewart. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of Debbie Harry by Robert Mapplethorpe. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of Benicio Del Toro by Cass Bird. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of Lauren Bacall by Alfred Eisenstaedt. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Lauren Bacall used to follow Humphrey Bogart around on movies he did without her to keep her eyes on him
Photo of Tony Hawk by Martin Schoeller. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of Madonna by Kate Simon. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Photo of Humphrey Bogart by Philippe Halsman. Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery.
Humphrey Bogart thought he was cool, too, and let everyone know
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered