Portraits by Krysztof Gieraltowski

"My portraits are very subjective," says the Polish photographer Krysztof Gieraltowski. "I try to choose one trait of my models and build upon it, visualise it. I photograph everyone in the way that I see fit. I’m always questioning my choice of people, their photos and opinions that I have of them."

Gieraltowski has a style that is completely different from any other great photographer.

The great composer Witold Lutoslawski by Krysztof Gieraltowski. Unfortunately many of these photos are undated. Lutoslawski died in 1994.

Nobel Prize laureate Czeslaw Milosz by Krysztof Gieraltowski. What an outstanding portrait!

Feliks Topolski by Krysztof Gieraltowski. I'm a huge fan of this painter and draughtsman, who has drawn so many wonderful portraits of favourites of mine: Aldous Huxley, T. S. Eliot, Andrei Tarkovsky. Topolski died in 1989.

Pope John Paul II by Krysztof Gieraltowski.

Director Janusz Kijowski by Krysztof Gieraltowski.

Artist Jonasz Stern by Krysztof Gieraltowski, before 1984.

Composer Hanna Kulenty by Krysztof Gieraltowski.

Architect Han Van Ardenne by Krysztof Gieraltowski.

Another photo of Czeslaw Milosz by Krysztof Gieraltowski, 2001. This seems to be from the same sitting as the one above.

A spectacular portrait of the fine German actress Heidrun Perdelwitz, by Krysztof Gieraltowski. How amazing is this!

So unexpected to come across the saturated colour in this portrait of the actress Dagmara Sieminska. Krysztof Gieraltowski is full of surprises!

Another Nobel Prize laureate - poet Wisława Anna Szymborska - by Krysztof Gieraltowski, 2004.

Philosopher Józef Tischner by Krysztof Gieraltowski, 1997.

Avant-garde artist Erna Rosenstein by Krysztof Gieraltowski, 1985.

Stanisław Lem by Krysztof Gieraltowski, 2002.

Jerzy Kosiński by Krysztof Gieraltowski, 1984.

And to end, these wonderful photo-booth shots of Krzysztof Gierałtowski.

Portraits by Anthony Barboza

Barboza is a very fine American portrait photographer. ""I try to put some of my perception about each personality in the photograph," he says, "So it’s an image of them, but it’s also how I felt about each individual." These are some of my favourites.

Ron Carter by Anthony Barboza, 1985

Betty Carter by Anthony Barboza, 1976

Derek Walcott by Anthony Barboza, 1977

Gordon Parks by Anthony Barboza, 1980s

Sam Gilliam by Anthony Barboza, 1980

James Baldwin by Anthony Barboza, 1975. Barboza made many portraits of Baldwin; this is my favourite.

Anthony Barboza's shot of Danny Aiello on the set of Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, 1989.

Max Roach by Anthony Barboza, 1989

Amiri Baraka by Anthony Barboza, 1991

David Lynch by Anthony Barboza, 1989

Betty Carter by Anthony Barboza, 1970s

Branford Marsalis by Anthony Barboza, 1990

Wole Soyinka by Anthony Barboza, 1996

Ornette Coleman by Anthony Barboza, 1985

Recommended: Eye Dreaming: Photographs by Anthony Barboza, 2022.

The Portraits of Brian Seed

Brian Seed joined Time-Life as a photographer in London at the age of 16, and learned from one of the best - he worked as an assistant to Cornell Capa. Like many magazine photographers of the time, he did a bit of everything, from photojournalism to sports and landscapes. But he was especially adept at capturing portrait subjects in unguarded, honest moments.

My favourite Brian Seed photograph: Charles Laughton as Bottom in Peter Hall's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Royal Shakespeare Company, 1958.

Brian Seed's portrait of Benjamin Britten at the shore in Aldeburgh, Sussex, 1964.

Jacqueline Du Pre by Brian Seed, 1958. She's practicing in her London apartment.

I love this Brian Seed portrait of Clement Atlee in Margate, 1955.

Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller arrive for the opening night of Miller's "A View from The Bridge", at the Comedy Theatre, London, October 11, 1956.

Barbara Hepworth by Brian Seed, 1958. She's in the garden of her home in St. Ives, Cornwall, now the home of the Tate's Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Katharine Hepburn by Brian Seed. This was taken on the set of Ralph Thomas's The Iron Petticoat, 1956.

Brian Seed's photo of mathematician & historian Jacob Bronowski for Life magazine, from 1962.

Kenneth Tynan by Brian Seed, 1961. This was taken at The Establishment, a London nightclub.

Brian Seed's photo of Graham Greene in his apartment, 1957.

Colin Wilson by Brian Seed, 1956.

Jack Smith by Brian Seed for Life magazine, 1956. The painting is Mother Bathing Child, 1953, now in the Tate.

Another Brian Seed portrait of Benjamin Britten, this one taken in Britten's study in 1964. A print is in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Cassius Clay signs autographs in 1963; he was in London for a fight with Henry Cooper, which he won. Brian Seed took a series of photos for Life magazine, before the boxer changed his name to Muhammed Ali.

Coming to Cornwall on July 1, 2023: an exhibition of the photography of Brian Seed at Penwith Gallery in St. Ives. More information here:

    https://penwithgallery.com/exhibition/thehepworthroombrianseed/

The photographs of Richard Pousette-Dart

I've always thought of Richard Pousette-Dart as a painter. He was in the first generation of Abstract Expressionists in New York. But he was also a fine photographer, and teacher of photography.

Richard Pousette-Dart's portrait of his friend and colleague Mark Rothko, c. 1948

Another portrait from Richard Pousette-Dart's circle: Barnett Newman, c. 1948

Robert Flaherty by Richard Pousette-Dart. This was taken in 1951, the year of the great film-maker's death.

Richard Pousette-Dart's fabulous portrait of the gallerist Betty Parsons, c. 1948

Another shot of Betty Parsons by Richard Pousette-Dart, c. 1948

Richard Pousette-Dart's portrait of Sasha Schneider, the great violinist of the Budapest String Quartet, c. 1950

Another Mark Rothko portrait by Richard Pousette, from 1948

I love this shot by Richard Pousette-Dart: Saul and Barbara Leiter, c. 1951-54. Saul Leiter came to New York to study painting with Pousette-Dart, but he steered him into a career in photography instead.

Martha Ryther by Richard Pousette-Dart, 1970s. I could be wrong, but I believe it's superimposed with a self-portrait by Ryther's husband, the painter Morris Kantor.

A wonderful Richard Pousette-Dart portrait of the textile designer Lois Long de Antonio, c. 1955.

Thad Jones by Richard Pousette-Dart, 1955

Here's the man himself: Richard Pousette-Dart, c. 1948