Comments on: Robert Vickrey’s Salinger Portrait: A Myopic Reading

By: Karen Martin Sampson

Karen Martin Sampson — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:29:39 +0000

Silly! That background is the Catcher in the Rye! So obvious I can't believe your reviewer missed it. (Vickrey - a long time favorite artist of mine.)

By: This Week’s Greatest Hits on Arts Desk: Selling Novels with Prog, Salinger’s Portrait, Fan Death - Arts Desk - Washington City Paper

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:23:27 +0000

[...] Robert Vickrey’s Salinger Portrait: A Myopic Reading [...]

By: On the Death of J.D. Salinger « Sonora Review

On the Death of J.D. Salinger « Sonora Review — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:52:27 +0000

[...] close reading of Vickery’s portrait, now hanging in the [...]

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:09:23 +0000

In the background appears a boy in rye grass with his arms outspread to "catch". It isn't a cross.

By: octothorp

octothorp — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:28:22 +0000

This is satire? If by "satire" you mean painfully unfunny and completely unimaginative, then, yes, I guess this deserves some kind of prize.

By: Princess Sparkle Pony

Princess Sparkle Pony — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:55:58 +0000

How is that tie "too narrow" for 1961?

By: Lawrence Tate

Lawrence Tate — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:30:27 +0000

Vickrey's painting was essentially an updating of Lotte Jacobi's famous Catcher jacket photo of Salinger from a decade earlier - just putting more gray in the hair and a few more wrinkles. That fact, and the rather pointless use of the field and the rather absurd cross in the background (to illustrate an article about a man far more interested in Eastern religions than Christianity) would have likely annoyed the hell out of Salinger. But the truth is, how many paintings of Salinger are out there? And are any even remotely as well-known as this one? So it's no surprise that the NPG has it up.