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Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Yousuf Karsh, 23 Dec 1908 - 13 Jul 2002
Sitter
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 11 Nov 1922 - 11 Apr 2007
Date
1990
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 34.4 x 26.6 cm (13 9/16 x 10 1/2")
Sheet: 25.5 x 27.6 cm (10 1/16 x 10 7/8")
Mount: 40.7 x 33 cm (16 x 13")
Topic
Personal Attribute\Facial Hair\Mustache
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: Visual Arts\Artist
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: Male
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: Literature\Writer\Novelist
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.: Literature\Writer\Playwright
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Estrellita Karsh in memory of Yousuf Karsh
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Estate of Yousuf Karsh
Object number
NPG.2012.77.100
Exhibition Label
Born Indianapolis, Indiana
Writer Kurt Vonnegut rose to popularity and wide critical acclaim in the 1960s, a decade of social change that provided a ready countercultural audience for his wry style and cynicism toward accepted values. Vonnegut’s fourteen novels often blended science fiction, surrealism, humor, and autobiography. In 1950, he sold his first piece of writing while working in public relations for the General Electric Company.
Vonnegut’s most famous novel, Slaughterhouse Five (1969), draws from the writer’s own experience as a prisoner of war during the Allied firebombing of Dresden, Germany, in 1945. His alter-ego, Kilgore Trout, first appears in the novel, as does the phrase “So it goes,” a refrain he used to mark death that soon became popular among opponents to the Vietnam War. Fellow writer Salman Rushdie described Slaughterhouse-Five as “humane enough to allow, at the end of the horror that is its subject, for the possibility of hope.”
Nacido en Indianápolis, Indiana
El escritor Kurt Vonnegut alcanzó la popularidad y la aceptación de la crítica en la década de 1960, época de cambio social que le facilitó un público de contracultura ya listo para su ironía y cinismo ante los valores establecidos. Sus 14 novelas suelen combinar ciencia ficción, surrealismo, humor y autobiografía. En 1950 vendió su primera obra cuando trabajaba para General Electric en relaciones públicas.
La novela más famosa de Vonnegut, Matadero cinco (1969), se inspira en su experiencia como prisionero de guerra durante el bombardeo aliado a Dresde, Alemania, en 1945. Su alter ego, Kilgore Trout, aparece aquí por primera vez, y también la frase “Así es”, estribillo que en la novela se asocial con la muerte y que pronto se hizo popular entre los opositores de la guerra de Vietnam. El colega escritor Salman Rushdie describió Matadero cinco como “lo suficientemente compasiva como para permitir, al final del horror que es su tema, una posibilidad de esperanza”.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view