(Reiner, Fritz). Muray, Nickolas. A SUPERB SEPIA TONED PHOTOGRAPH PORTRAIT OF THE GREAT CLASSICAL CONDUCTOR FRITZ REINER BY NICKOLAS MURAY, DATED AND SIGNED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER. New York, 1929. A 9-7/9 inch high by 8 inch wide softly hued sepia photograph depicting the great classical music conductor Fritz Reiner in profile from the chest up. Neatly attired in a three piece suit and tie over white shirt, Fritz Reiner's gently, softly smiling face appears illuminated by inspiration. The photographer's stamp is embossed on the bottom left of the image. The photograph is mounted by the photographer, with glue from the verso, into a 15-3/4 inch high by 11-1/2 inch wide creamy white mat. Signed in pencil on the mat at right immediately under the image "Muray" and dated "1929" by the photographer. There are a few spots of abrasion to the emulsion along the top with a couple of spots at the top right corner of the image. A beautiful portrait housed in the photographer's light gray cardboard folder with his pictorial device above his name on the folder's front cover.
The Hungarian-born conductor Frederick Martin "Fritz" Reiner (1888-1963) was highly regarded for his performances of Opera and symphonic music. Born in Budapest to a secular Jewish family he studied the piano and composition at the Franz Liszt Academy. Among his teachers was the young composer Bela Bartok. For a time, he worked closely with Richard Strauss before moving to the USA in 1922 to take over as condutor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Taking citizenship in his new country, he taught at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. Both Leonard Bernstein and Lukas Foss where among his students. His appointment as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1953 marked the pinnacle of his career which included landmark recordings.
Like Fritz Reiner, the photographer Nickolas Muray (1892-1965) was born in Hungary. He was a student of lithography, photoengraving and photography. Having fled Europe at the advent of the first World War, he settled in Brooklyn where he found work as a color printer. Opening a studio in Greenwich Village in 1920, he was soon commisioned by Harper's Bazaar to do a portrait of the Broadway actor Florence Reed. Harper's Bazaar were apparently happy with his work as they were soon publishing his photographs on a near monthly basis. As his reputation grew, New York City's elite and celebrities sought him out to have the portraits taken and in 1926, Vanity Fair sent him to Europe to photograph celebrities in London, Paris and Berlin and, in 1929 hired him to photograph Hollywood movie stars. Moving away from his earlier work, Muray turned to commercial photography becoming famous for his work in color advertising.
I UNCONDITIONALLY GUARANTEE THE AUTHENTICITY OF MURAY'S AUTOGRAPH!
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