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Adolph Ochs

Adolph Ochs
Artist
Philip Alexius de László, 1869 - 1937
Sitter
Adolph Simon Ochs, 1858 - 1935
Date
1926
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 88.9 x 76.2cm (35 x 30")
Frame: 127.6 x 94.3 x 6cm (50 1/4 x 37 1/8 x 2 3/8")
Topic
Adolph Simon Ochs: Male
Adolph Simon Ochs: Journalism and Media\Newspaper publisher
Adolph Simon Ochs: Society and Social Change\Philanthropist
Portrait
Place
United States\New York\Kings\New York City
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift from the Ochs / Sulzberger Family
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.2011.142
Exhibition Label
Born Cincinnati, Ohio
Adolph Ochs began his career as a newspaper boy for the Knoxville Chronicle, rising at 3:00 a.m. to fold and deliver newspapers for $1.50 per week. His disciplined work habits led to rapid promotions on several newspapers, and by 1878 he was able to purchase the Chattanooga Times. In 1896 he acquired the failing New York Times. Ochs refused to run comics and made book reviews and letters to the editor prominent features. Despite the fierce competition from the “yellow press” during the Spanish-American War, Ochs succeeded in making the Times the “newspaper of record” for the English-speaking world.
Philip de László was a society portraitist both in Europe and in America during the early decades of the twentieth century. This portrait was painted in April 1926, when the artist was in New York City.
Provenance
The sitter; by descent in the Ochs/Sulzberger Family; gift to NPG 2011
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view