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Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Marius de Zayas, 1880 - 1961
Sitter
Nikola Tesla, 9 Jul 1856 - 7 Jan 1943
Date
c. 1908
Type
Drawing
Medium
Charcoal over graphite on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 62.3 x 48.3 cm (24 1/2 x 19")
Frame: 81.5 × 66.3 cm (32 1/16 × 26 1/8")
Topic
Caricature
Nikola Tesla: Male
Nikola Tesla: Science and Technology\Inventor
Nikola Tesla: Science and Technology\Engineer\Electrical engineer
Portrait
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Estate of Marius De Zaya
Object number
NPG.92.148
Exhibition Label
Born Smiljan, Croatia
The brilliant inventor Nikola Tesla captivated New York City’s celebrity press with such feats as introducing alternating-current electricity, lighting the 1893 Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition, and harnessing and generating power from Niagara Falls. His largest project (and biggest failure) was the attempted invention of wireless broadcasting, which was financed in large part by J. Pierpont Morgan. At one point, Tesla was touted as being “greater even than Edison.” A showman whose electrical demonstrations dazzled both scientific and popular audiences, Tesla was a dandified member of society who became wealthy off of profits from his patents, making many enemies along the way. Marius de Zayas’s unsettling, shadowy charcoal depicts Tesla in a coat and hat, as if he were striding purposefully along a dark street. But the impassioned intensity of his stride and his angular, proud profile hint at both his brilliance and an eccentric, unbalanced streak that was already apparent in Tesla’s character.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Location
Currently not on view