Photograph as originally submitted to this page in the Historical Marker Database www.HMdb.org. Click on photo to resize in browser. Scroll down to see metadata.

Photographer: Allen C. Browne
Taken: November 2, 2011
Caption: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Additional Description: This 1935 portrait of F. Scott Fitzgerald by David Silvette hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

“It was F. Scott Fitzgerald who named the self­indulgent 1920s the Jazz Age, and his best-selling novel This Side of Paradise became one of the decade's first literary landmarks. But his most enduring achievement was The Great Gatsby (1925), which, in meticulously crafted prose, wove a modern morality tale set against a backdrop of luxury. Fitzgerald and his talented wife, Zelda, experienced -- in New York, Paris, and Hollywood­ some of the glamorous life he evoked. But struggling with financial disappointments, alcoholism, and Zelda's mental illness, Fitzgerald also probed the destructive underside of the era's bright illusions. When he met artist David Silvette in 1935, Fitzgerald was suffering from an emotional breakdown. He agreed to pose, however, and considered this a swell portrait. His career as chronicler of the dreams and disappointments of contemporary life was cut short by his death five years later.” — National Portrait Gallery
Submitted: May 7, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland.
Database Locator Identification Number: p307426
File Size: 0.876 Megabytes

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