Lot 74: SHERRIL SCHELL

(American, 1877-1964) PORTRAIT OF RUPERT BROOKE vintage gelatin silver print 91/4 x 71/2 in. (23.5 x 19.1 cm) 1913 PROVENANCE Private Collection, FRANCE LITERATURE Rupert Brooke, 1914 AND OTHER POEMS, LONDON, 1915, frontispiece (illustrated) John Szarkowski, A PERSONAL VIEW: PHOTOGRAPHS IN THE COLLECTION OF PAUL F. WALTER, New York, 1985, p. 124, fig. 11 (illustrated and frontal portrait illustrated, pl. 55) An American by birth, Sherril Schell spent most of his adult life abroad, shooting portraits for an international clientele. While living in London in the years before World War I, Schell arranged to photograph Rupert Brooke, the young English poet who was then gaining much literary acclaim. "I learned from a friend that Brooke was a genial, wholesome fellow," Schell recalled, "entirely unspoiled by all the adoration and adulation he had received... an all-around athlete who spent most of his time outdoors, tramping the country roads, reading Dr. Johnson under the shade of oak and yew" (Sherril Schell, "The Story of a Photograph," THE BOOKMAN, no. 63, August 1926, p. 688). Brooke agreed to sit for nearly a dozen portraits, including the present pose in strict profile, which was suggested by the poet himself. By baring his neck and shoulders and leaving his hair unkempt, Brooke successfully projected an image of youthful abandon that corresponded with his literary reputation. Indeed, of all of Schell's portraits, the present work became most closely identified with the poet, who was to die tragically young en route to Gallipoli in 1915. Not only was this photograph reproduced as the frontispiece for Brooke's final book, 1914 AND OTHER POEMS, but it also served as the template for a memorial medallion created in his honor.