James Joyce
- Artist: Berenice Abbott
- Date: 1926
- Medium: bromide print
- Dimensions: 9 3/8 in. x 7 5/8 in. (238 mm x 194 mm)
- Portrays: James Joyce
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
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About this artwork
Before you is an intimate bromide print by Berenice Abbott, taken in 1926. You see James Joyce – his face framed close, hair falling softly over a relaxed brow. The lighting is gentle and diffused; light washes his features and gives the portrait its quiet depth. His eyes sit slightly turned toward the camera, the left one closed to blindness. A pair of simple spectacles rests on his nose, hinting at the visual challenges he faced during this period.
Abbott had worked for Man Ray and brought that sensibility to the portrait – a subtle glow and soft focus that reveal a complex, introverted mind. For Joyce, this image is iconic; it became one of the defining pictures used in later publications of his works such as *Ulysses* (1922) and *Finnegan’s Wake* (1939). The print captures both the man’s public literary stature and the private struggle he endured.
The photograph was later acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, where it now sits among its primary collection.
See it in person
James Joyce is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
