Cormac McCarthy
Object Details
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Date
- 2004
- Object number
- NPG.2008.23
- Exhibition Label
- Born Providence, Rhode Island
- The early work of contemporary novelist Cormac McCarthy, including Suttree (1979) and Blood Meridian (1985), was often violent and macabre. After moving from Tennessee to Texas, he began to explore the classic western theme of the individual on the frontier; his Border Trilogy (1992-98) masterfully mixed the old and the new West. Now living near Santa Fe, McCarthy is writing what has been called post-apocalyptic fiction; The Road (2006) won the Pulitzer Prize for its depiction of life after a secular apocalypse.
- McCarthy was the only writer in residence as a fellow at the Santa Fe Institute when British photorealist painter Andrew Tift met and photographed him there in 2003 for a series of portraits. McCarthy, who is known for being reclusive, has said that talking with the scientists at the research institute "helps him to think."
- Provenance
- (Andreeva Gallery, Santa Fe); purchased 2008 NPG
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- Artist
- Andrew Tift, born 1968
- Sitter
- Cormac McCarthy, born 20 Jul 1933
- Topic
- Cormac McCarthy: Male
- Cormac McCarthy: Literature\Writer\Novelist
- Cormac McCarthy: Literature\Writer\Screenwriter
- Portrait
- Medium
- Acrylic on canvas
- Dimensions
- Stretcher: 50.5 x 30.5cm (19 7/8 x 12")
- Frame: 53.7 x 33.7 x 5.1cm (21 1/8 x 13 1/4 x 2")
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © 2004 Andrew Tift
- Type
- Painting
- Metadata Usage
- Usage conditions apply
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2008.23
Cormac McCarthy
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