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Joseph Papp

Joseph Papp
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Alice Neel, 28 Jan 1900 - 13 Oct 1984
Sitter
Joseph Papp, 22 Jun 1921 - Nov 1991
Date
1964
Type
Painting
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Stretcher: 106 x 75.6 x 2.5cm (41 3/4 x 29 3/4 x 1")
Frame: 128.3 x 97.8 x 7cm (50 1/2 x 38 1/2 x 2 3/4")
Topic
Equipment\Smoking Implements\Pipe
Joseph Papp: Male
Joseph Papp: Performing Arts\Producer\Theater producer
Portrait
Place
United States\New York\Kings\New York
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of Richard Neel and Hartley Neel
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Estate of Alice Neel
Object number
NPG.94.87
Exhibition Label
Born Brooklyn, New York
When Joe Papp originated the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1956, his intent was to cultivate an audience broader than the middle class mainstream who flooded Broadway theaters in the mid-1950s—to reach those “who might never have seen a play before and who were unable or unwilling to pay.” By the 1960s, Papp had become a catalyst for alternative theater, most notably the 1967 “American tribal love-rock musical” Hair. The Shakespeare Festival produced the phenomenally successful musical A Chorus Line at Papp’s Public Theater in 1975, but his repertory also included jazz workshops, chamber music, puppet shows, and a wide range of classic and contemporary theater. His commitment to multicultural entertainment helped to change the face of American theater from the 1960s onward.
Provenance
(Robert Miller, New York); purchased 1994 NPG
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
Bravo!
On View
NPG, South Gallery 322 Mezzanine