Print Details
About this photograph
Kane flew Louis Armstrong to Death Valley from Las Vegas where Armstrong was performing. Louis didn't want to fly without his wife Lucille, but the 4 seat Cessna would only accommodate Armstrong, Kane, the pilot and the rocking chair Kane had chosen as a prop, (in reference to Armstrong’s hit ‘Rockin’ Chair.) Somehow Kane convinced Armstrong to fly. Tired of portraits of Armstrong playing his trumpet, Kane asked him to put down his horn, to portray him as a man taking a well deserved rest from his life as a revolutionary jazz pioneer and globally beloved entertainer.
Print sizes and editions
16” x 20” paper size - Edition of 25
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.