GORE VIDAL (1957-78) Photo archive

Gore Vidal. 1957-78. New York, Los Angeles: [Various], 1957-1978. Archive of 13 vintage original mostly 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) (one is 7 x 9″ [17 x 22 cm]) black-and-white glossy silver gelatin photos. Most have attached paper blurbs on verso as well as date/photographer stamps. Many were used for publication. General use wear, overall near fine.

The great American writer and public intellectual Gore Vidal (1925-2012) was known for his cynical epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays criticized the social and sexual norms he perceived as driving American life. While fiercely progressive, his traditionalist streak and elitist literary sensibilities sometimes led him to call himself a “small-r conservative” in the classical sense. He passionately wanted to “conserve” the original constitutional republic and hated what he saw as the decay of traditional American institutions, free speech and personal liberty. (Wikipedia)

Five are portraits; some include Vidal at work, dated between 1960 and 1975; at work and in social situations between 1957 and 1970 including with Cyril Ritchard on Visit to a Small Planet; at the premiere of Romulus; with Edie Adams at opening of The Best Man in 1964; with the cast of Weekend in 1970; and on a Laugh-In TV special in 1978.