John Jacob Niles with Lysette Engel at the Piano, New York City
about 1926–1930
- Medium
- Platinum print
- Dimensions
- 20.5 × 15.1 cm
- Status
- In Museum Collection
- Collect24 Art ID
- C24-770109
Doris Ulmann lived and worked in two very different worlds: the urban milieu of Manhattan, and the scattered mountain communities of the rural Southeast. The many photographs of John Jacob (“Jack”) Niles (1892-1980), a musician, composer, and Ulmann’s assistant, emphasize his role in her experience of both worlds. (See also [87.XM.89.7](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/62291/doris-ulmann-john-jacob-niles-playing-the-dulcimer-new-york-city-american-about-1930/) and [87.XM.89.19](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/62303/doris-ulmann-john-jacob-niles-in-hat-and-overcoat-american-about-1927-1934/)). Niles reportedly was introduced to Ulmann by Carl Engel, head of G. Schirmer, Inc., a music publishing company. Several of Niles's collections were issued by the business, including his *Seven Kentucky Mountain Songs* of 1928. Engel was apparently a family friend of Ulmann's; this portrait of his daughter accompanying Niles on the piano was probably made in Ulmann's apartment. Lysette assumes the appearance of a pensive young woman in this view, compared to the persona of a more awkward adolescent girl that she displays in the seven additional solo portraits Ulmann m…
Provenance
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Registry history
- about 1926–1930 — Recorded in the collection of J. Paul Getty Museum — photographs
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