Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn Signed Photograph.
HEMINGWAY, Ernest; Martha Gellhorn [Taylor Williams].
Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn Signed Photograph.
Rare Original Photograph of Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn; Inscribed by Hemingway and Gellhorn to Taylor Williams
$27,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: 150074
Rare original black and white photograph of legendary American writer Ernest Hemingway and his third wife Martha Gellhorn. Black and white vintage gelatin silver print of Hemingway pointing towards the distance with one arm and the other wrapped around Martha Gellhorn. Inscribed by Ernest Hemingway in black ballpoint to the middle left, “For Taylor my pal Ernie.” Inscribed above by Martha Gellhorn, “For Taylor – Love, Marty.” The recipient was Hemingway’s great friend, Taylor “Beartracks” Williams, the well-known Sun Valley hunting and fishing guide. Hemingway’s friendship with Williams dated back to their meeting in Idaho in the late 1930s, after which Hemingway frequently returned to Ketchum before eventually settling there. Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn met in December 1936 and soon began working alongside one another as correspondents, traveling to Spain in 1937 to report on the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. At the time still married to his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, Hemingway divorced in 1939, the same year he and Gellhorn first visited Ketchum; they married the following year. During this period Gellhorn filed reports from Spain for Collier’s, while Hemingway published For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), a novel partly written in Ketchum and illustrated on its dust jacket with a photograph of him at his typewriter taken there. In 1941 the couple traveled to China on assignment for Collier’s and returned again to Ketchum before their marriage ended in divorce in 1945. In near fine condition with with light creasing to the extremities. Triple matted and framed. The photograph measures 9.375 inches by 9.375 inches. The entire piece measures 16.5 inches by 16.5 inches.
Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century, whose concise prose style and exploration of universal themes reshaped modern literature. Known for his works such as The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway developed a narrative voice that captured the complexities of human struggle and resilience with stark simplicity. His experiences as a journalist and participant in both World Wars deeply informed his writing, lending authenticity to his depictions of courage, loss, and alienation. While his personal life, marked by adventure and tragedy, often overshadowed his literary contributions, his stylistic innovations and engagement with existential themes solidified his status as a transformative figure in American letters. By pushing the boundaries of narrative form and emphasizing the power of understatement, Hemingway left an enduring legacy on both literature and the cultural understanding of the human condition.
