Print Details
About this photograph
On August 12, 1958 in Harlem, New York, Art Kane accomplished his first major photography assignment. Shot for Esquire Magazine at 17 East 126th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenue, Kane captured fifty eight jazz giants with his Hasselblad camera. The legendary musicians present included Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Coleman Hawkins, Mary Lou Williams, Horace Silver, Gene Krupa, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and more. This image earned Kane his first Art Directors Club of New York gold medal for photography and is renowned for its impact on Jazz history globally. It has been called "the most iconic photograph in jazz history".
Print sizes and editions
16” x 20” paper size - Edition of 100
30” x 40” paper size - Edition of 7
50” x 75” paper size - Edition of 3
Print type
C-type print
Paper type
Epson Fine Art semi-matte archival paper
Signature
Estate stamped
About the photographer
Art Kane was one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century. Kane's work encompassed fashion, editorial, celebrity portraiture, travel, and nudes with a relentless and innovative eye. Kane pioneered photographic storytelling by investigating his image with metaphor and poetry, effectively turning photography into illustration. In 1958, Kane assembled the greatest legends in jazz and shot what became one of his most famous images, Harlem 1958.
In the 1960s and 1970s, he photographed, among others, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Janis Joplin, the Doors, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan. In his lifetime Kane was honored by almost every photo-design organization in the United States and his contributions to photography continue to resonate to this day.
© Art Kane. All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.