Welles as Faust
Portrait photograph of Orson Welles as Doctor Faustus.
New York: [March 1, 1937].
Price: $3,500.00
About the item
Published in PORTRAITS: the Photographs of Carl Van Vechten (1978), edited by Saul Mauriber. Half-length, in costume. 1 vols. 25.6 x 17.9 cm (Approximately 9-7/8 x 7 inches). Welles as Faust. Embossed stamp lower right, atelier stamp on rear, docketed with the name of the subject, and number of the print ("VIII K 14").
Item #220745
A rare pre-Hollywood image of the 22-year-old Welles as Faustus in his adaptation of the Marlowe play, which opened on January 8, 1937 at the Maxine Elliott Theatre and ran through 128 performances. "The legend of the man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge and power ... was uncomfortably close to the shape of Welles' own personal myth ... . There are moments when Faustus seemed to be expressing some of Welles' personal agony and private terror." - John Houseman, RUN-THROUGH: A MEMOIR (1972).
