Like most authors, Evan Connell was photographed numerous times for the portraits that appeared on his book covers. He disliked being photographed, but generally suffered through it. Some of the designated photographers were artists of note. Imogen Cunningham is credited with the photo that appears on the back of Connell’s first book, the story collection titled The Anatomy Lesson.

As I was gathering photos for Literary Alchemist, I was often confronted with running the hurdles that go along with seeking permission to use images. Several of the portrait photographers were either dead or their heirs or representatives could not be reached. To name names of living photographers: I got in touch with Jill Krementz, whom I’d once met while interviewing her husband, Kurt Vonnegut. She’d shot a very good portrait of Connell and when I asked about it, she said it would cost me $1,000. Oh, well. I moved on. Thomas Victor, a well-known author photographer in the publishing world, shot several photos of Connell for books published by North Point and Counterpoint Press. Trouble is, most of the prints were inaccessible because of the pandemic shutdown of the Counterpoint office. I had one in my files, but preferred one or two others. Eve Crane, a well-known Bay Area photographer known especially for her pictures of Hell’s Angels, took a wonderful photo of Connell at a chess board for the back cover of Mr. Bridge (below). She may still be with us, but I couldn’t break through to her. What the hell, I’m posting the photo here, and we’ll see what happens.

My editor at the University of Missouri Press really liked the image we ended up with on the cover. This photo came out of the Connell papers at the Stanford U library. The fact that the photographer was unknown gave us some cover for using it. It’s possible someone could turn up and claim it, I suppose, but they’d really need proof.

A good suite of Life magazine photos existed on the Getty site, but, as expected they would’ve been prohibitively expensive. When I went back to check as we were considering photos for the book, the pictures were gone, but I learned from a Life person that its archive had moved to another agency. Good news, the license fees were significantly lower and the kind woman whom I was in touch with, gave me a break, I think, on the one photo I ended up paying for and using.

—SBP

I was enamored of a portrait shot by Ruth Bernhard c. 1963 (pictured above). I found the image online at what I think was a European auction site, which did not return my contact attempts. Running the traps gave me fits; the publisher, Viking Press, did not claim copyright and eventually told me to check with the agent; the successor agent was clueless; I even sought permission from the official Bernhard archives at Princeton U, who told me the image was not in their files and sent me back to the publisher since it clearly would’ve been a work-for-hire situation. So, in my mind, the no one would’ve cared if we’d used the photo in the book or on the cover. My publisher remained skittish. Connell must have had some connection with Bernhard. Around the same time, as an editor at Contact magazine in Sausalito, he published a nude by Bernhard and possibly other photos.