Anne Tyler

Object Details

Date
2004
Artist
David Levine, 20 Dec 1926 - 29 Dec 2009
Sitter
Anne Tyler, born 25 Oct 1941
Exhibition Label
Born Minneapolis, Minnesota
A prolific, fastidious observer of the everyday and a conjurer of eccentrics, Anne Tyler has written nearly twenty novels over the span of five decades, her most well-known arguably being The Accidental Tourist (1985). In a 1976 review in The New Yorker, John Updike—an author similarly dedicated to the travails of the everyman—proclaimed her writing “wickedly good.” In this illustration accompanying a review of Tyler’s The Amateur Marriage (2004), David Levine shows the writer in her typical topknot, using a magnifying glass to analyze bride and groom figurines atop a wedding cake. The magnifying glass is an apt metaphor for Tyler’s writing style: rich with minute details that allow us to inhabit the small, ordinary moments of her characters. Also alluding to her penchant for the mild-mannered, Levine shows Tyler smiling at the viewer, despite her quasi-scientific task at hand. The Pulitzer Prize–winning writer recently completed what she says is her final novel, A Spool of Blue Thread (2015).
Anne Tyler nacida en 1941
Nacida en Mineápolis, Minnesota
Prolífica y minuciosa observadora de lo cotidiano, fabuladora de lo excéntrico, Anne Tyler ha escrito una veintena de novelas a lo largo de cinco décadas, siendo quizás la más famosa The Accidental Tourist (1985). En una reseña de 1976 en The New Yorker, John Updike, autor también dedicado a la gesta del hombre común, proclamó que Tyler tenía una prosa “endiabladamente buena”. En esta ilustración que acompañó una reseña de The Amateur Marriage (2004), David Levine nos muestra a la autora con su típico moño, lupa en mano para analizar las figurillas del novio y la novia sobre un pastel de bodas. La lupa es una metáfora muy a tono con el estilo literario de Tyler, repleto de detalles que nos permiten habitar los pequeños instantes del día a día de sus personajes. Levine también alude a su preferencia por los personajes amables y la muestra sonriendo al espectador, a pesar del carácter cuasi científico de la tarea que la ocupa. Tyler, ganadora del premio Pulitzer, ha terminado recientemente la que dice será su última novela, A Spool of Blue Thread (2015).
David Levine (1926–2009)
Tinta sobre grafito en papel, 2004
Topic
Caricature
Food
Equipment\Optical Devices\Magnifying glass
Anne Tyler: Female
Anne Tyler: Literature\Writer
Anne Tyler: Literature\Literary critic
Anne Tyler: Pulitzer Prize
Portrait
See more items in
National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Object number
NPG.2012.14
Type
Drawing
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
©2004 Matthew and Eve Levine
Medium
Ink over graphite on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 35.5 × 28 cm (14 × 11")
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm436114d47-28fa-4a13-bd81-744fbcff2974
Record ID
npg_NPG.2012.14