Today we celebrate the man born as Samuel Clemens who would become one of America’s most famous literary icons.  Likewise, his portraits have also become iconic— capturing a personage and personality that goes hand in hand with our image of the author and cementing his place in popular visual culture.

Alvin Langdon Coburn’s portrait of Mark Twain, ca. 1905

Copyright George Eastman House

Alvin Langdon Coburn’s portrait of Mark Twain shooting pool, ca. 1905

Copyright George Eastman House

The impact of the stories and characters Twain created would of course extend beyond the written word into other media—this is just the kind of thing we have a lot of fun with here as a museum of Photography and Film.

Click here for a clip of our Film Preservation Officer, Anthony L’abbate, discussing the character of Huckleberry Finn in film history during his intro of the 1919 William Desmond Taylor film ‘Huck Finn’.

Film Fans!

For even more on Huck Finn in the movies, check out Anthony’s Blog from the 360/365 George Eastman House Film Festival earlier this year.

Bibliophiles!

For more portraits of famous authors, Click Here.

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