Robert Joseph Flaherty
Object Details
- Cast after
- Jo Davidson, 30 Mar 1883 - 2 Jan 1952
- Foundry
- Roman Bronze Works, Inc.
- Sitter
- Robert Joseph Flaherty, 16 Feb 1884 - 23 Jul 1951
- Exhibition Label
- Born Iron Mountain, Michigan
- Often called the father of documentary film, Robert J. Flaherty began filming native life while exploring the Hudson Bay region in the late teens. In 1920 a fur-trading company funded his filmmaking, and the result was Flaherty’s classic documentary, Nanook of the North (1922), which depicted an Eskimo (Nanook) hunting, fishing, and trapping. Flaherty’s subsequent documentaries included Moana (1926), a depiction of Samoan life, and Tabu (1931), which took place in the South Seas and won an Oscar for Best Cinematography. As much a showman as a filmmaker, Flaherty helped popularize the idea of motion pictures as a chronicle of everyday life.
- Provenance
- (M. Knoedler & Co., Inc.), New York; purchased NPG 1973
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- 1949 (cast 1973)
- Object number
- NPG.73.21
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Sculpture
- Medium
- Bronze
- Dimensions
- With Base: 47 x 31.4 x 29.5cm (18 1/2 x 12 3/8 x 11 5/8")
- Without Base: 39.7 x 31.4 x 29.5cm (15 5/8 x 12 3/8 x 11 2/8")
- Base: 7.6 x 22.8 x 22.8cm (3 x 9 x 9")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Exhibition
- NPG Mezzanine: 20th and 21st Century Americans
- On View
- NPG, South Gallery 310 Mezzanine
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Robert Joseph Flaherty: Male
- Robert Joseph Flaherty: Science and Technology\Explorer
- Robert Joseph Flaherty: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Film\Film director
- Robert Joseph Flaherty: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Film\Film producer
- Robert Joseph Flaherty: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Film\Filmmaker\Documentary filmmaker
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.73.21
- Metadata Usage (text)
- Usage conditions apply
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm47e98acff-1dd0-49c9-a459-b8f8c2add80a
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