Intimate Family Photos Reveal the Lives of Famous Artists

Curator Merry Foresta has spent the last few years collecting one-of-a-kind snapshots of famous artists from the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. These images feature world-renowned artists in a natural setting, where their guard is down and they are simply living in the moment. More than 100 of these candid shots are now available for the public to admire in a new photo book entitled Artists Unframed.

Within the pages of this book, you can find Jackson Pollock carving a turkey, Una Hanbury sculpting a bust of Georgia O’Keeffe, John Lennon with his arms wrapped around Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol, and Picasso smiling on a balcony with his daughter Maya. A tiny annotation penned by an unknown hand proclaims that Picasso is “very much in love.”

The captivating book reveals a different side to the artists that have been loved and honored for decades. We see what happens when artists are not posing before the public eye. In unveiling these memorable photos, Foresta hopes to humanize both the individuals pictured and the overall elusive figure of the artist.

Artists Unframed is available now and can be bought here.

Above: Pablo Picasso and his daughter Maya

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo