John Steinbeck and Sonya Noskowiak: Dating the Iconic Photo

Abstract:The iconic photo of John Steinbeck sitting in a chair cross-legged wearing his leather jacket has been credited correctly to Sonya Noskowiak (1900–1975) as photographer. With estimated dates ranging from circa 1930 to circa 1940 by various biographers, the precise dating of this photo, however, has been open to question. Recent research in the Noskowiak archives at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona in Tucson has now documented a secure date of May 1935 for the Steinbeck negative. The secure date thus places the Noskowiak portrait as contemporary with publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935, likely authorized by Steinbeck's publisher Pascal Covici. Sonya Noskowiak, German born of Polish parents, was a member of the innovative Group f/64 photographers in Carmel, California, and a close associate of its founder, Edward Weston. In 1935 she established her own portrait studio in San Francisco, recording the artistic personae of the Bay Area. The Steinbeck session included some six images, both close-ups and full frame, with the armchair photo among the most powerful. A second series of informal Steinbeck photos was taken in 1936 by Group f/64 member Peter Stackpole and showed Steinbeck relaxing at his home in Pacific Grove. The Noskowiak photos of John Steinbeck capture the young author on the brink of his creativity, two years before Of Mice and Men and four years before The Grapes of Wrath. The power of the Noskowiak series comes from the direct documentary style of Group f/64 and the determined gaze of Steinbeck's pose.