Whitman commented that the photos from this sitting were all successful, "in fact would be considered very fine—in their smoothification—the quality that never pleases me" (Horace Traubel, With Walt Whitman in Camden, Tuesday, September 3, 1889). But this may be the pose that Whitman disliked and joked with Horace Traubel about: "it is destined for the fire—irrevocably: look at the formal pose—the expression, too, a damnable one!" (Friday, May 9, 1890). Still, Whitman regarded Gutekunst as being "on the top of the heap" (Tuesday, July 2, 1889) as far as photographers went.
On the Library of Congress copy, Traubel has written, "Except for the photograph taken by Eakins-O'Donovan. . . . in Walt's own room in November 1891, the Gutekunst sittings, of which this is one result, were the last secured from him by a photographer."
For more information on Frederick Gutekunst, see "Notes on Whitman's Photographers."
Photographer: Gutekunst, Frederick, 1831–1917
Date: 1889
Technique: photograph
Place: Philadelphia (Pa.)
Subject: Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892 | Philadelphia (Pa.)
Creator of master digital image: Ohio Wesleyan University, Bayley Collection
Rights: Public Domain. This image may be reproduced without permission.
Work Type: digital image
Date: ca. 1995–ca. 2000