Herman Leonard
Duke Ellington, Paris

Duke Ellington, Paris
Duke Ellington, Paris
Duke Ellington, Paris
ArtistAmerican, 1923–2010
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Duke Ellington, Paris
Date1958, printed later
PlaceParis, France
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 12 3/4 × 10 in. (32.4 × 25.4 cm)
Sheet: 13 7/8 × 10 15/16 in. (35.2 × 27.8 cm)
Credit LineThe Sonia and Kaye Marvins Portrait Collection, museum purchase funded by the Sharney Foundation in memory of Gloria L. Sharney
Object number90.260
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Special Collections
Object Type
Description

Combining various passions into one career was Herman Leonard's
luxury when he began photographing jazz musicians. He went to nightclubs in New
York where he could study the musicians and singers for his work. To further
hone his skills, he studied photography at Ohio University, receiving a
master's degree. In 1948, after a year's apprenticeship with master portraitist
Yousuf Karsh, Leonard returned to New York and continued developing his style
by shooting album covers for record companies. In 1956, he served as a personal
photographer to Marlon Branda during a trip to the Far East. After returning
from his trip with Branda, Leonard moved to Paris where he worked for the next
twenty years as a photojournalist, in addition to a jazz portraitist.





Edward "Duke" Ellington is one of the most
important figures in jazz music. He began studying piano at age 7 and made his
professional debut by age 17. Ellington composed over six thousand songs
including many multimovement suites and liturgical music. He wrote many of his best-known
works, including
Mood Indigo (1930), It Don't Mean a Thing 0932),
and
Reminiscing in Tempo 0935), before he was 40 years old. Just as
Ellington elaborated on the simplest compositions, Leonard took a simple
moment, silhouetting Ellington with his piano, and created a beautifully
descriptive image of Ellington's life in the spotlight.




Provenance[Robert Koch Gallery, San Francisco]; purchased by MFAH, 1990.
Exhibition History"Famous/Infamous: Images of Celebrity from the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Shell and the American Landscape Museum, Houston, October 23–December 9, 2002.

"The Sounds I See: Photographs of Musicians," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 20, 2008–January 19, 2009.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
verso lower left in pencil "Duke Ellington - Paris - 1958"
verso lower right in pencil "Herman Leonard"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

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October 1945 - January 1946
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October 1945 - January 1946
Gelatin silver print
2009.1530.43
Untitled
Cpl. Herman Robinson, 3098 Quartermaster Laundry Co., U.S. Army
October 1945 - January 1946
Gelatin silver print
2009.1530.40
Untitled
Cpl. Herman Robinson, 3098 Quartermaster Laundry Co., U.S. Army
October 1945 - January 1946
Gelatin silver print
2009.1530.41