“His attention is close, punctuated with pats, touches and quizzical looks, as here, with a schoolteacher who is one of his fans, in a Village eatery.”

Robert Adelman, “His attention is close, punctuated with pats, touches and quizzical looks, as here, with a schoolteacher who is one of his fans, in a Village eatery.”

Robert Adelman, artist

1930–2016

“His attention is close, punctuated with pats, touches and quizzical looks, as here, with a schoolteacher who is one of his fans, in a Village eatery.”, circa 1964

Portfolio/Series title: "Everybody Knows His Name," published in Esquire magazine, August 1964

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 24 x 16.6 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 9 7/16 x 6 9/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 25.4 x 20.5 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 10 x 8 1/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 16 x 20 in

Credit line: Gift of Esquire, Inc.

Accession number: 1980.1030

Not on display

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Label texts

By 1963, when he was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, James Baldwin had already garnered widespread attention for his writings and activism within the Civil Rights Movement. Baldwin’s collection of essays Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son was published in 1961, and he had written several articles for Esquire before Marvin Elkoff unflatteringly profiled him in an Esquire piece titled, “Everybody Knows His Name.”
The backdrop for the story is the rehearsal for Baldwin’s play, Blues for Mr. Charlie. Elkoff questioned Baldwin’s current fame and influence, asking “How does a man of so unorthodox and disorderly a mode of life become so persuasive and pertinent a spokesman for the Negro protest movement, so respected an envoy to the white middle class. It helps, of course, that he is a
famous and talented writer, driven up on the crest of concern for the Negro revolution to become the hottest property in publishing.” Baldwin was under a great deal of stress during the play’s rehearsals and the photographs accompanying the article capture dramatic facial expressions that seem belligerent and confrontational.
Baldwin would not contribute to Esquire again for eight years after the article’s publication.