About This Image

McBean, a singular talent in 20th-century portraiture, was known for his unique ability to incorporate surrealist elements into complex, highly crafted compositions in which no detail was left untouched.

For his 1955 holiday card, McBean paints the words "Greetings 1955" in light using a long exposure (in tribute to Picasso and Gjon Mili). A hand on the bottom left corner holds a studio card reading" Best Wishes for Christmas and 1956." This photograph was the prototype for the front image of the cards McBean would produce.

Mentioned on pg.161 in Terence Pepper's "Angus McBean Portraits: 2006, The Monacelli Press.

The Gernsheims were early collectors and strong fans of McBean's work, and he is highlighted in "The Gernsheim Collection, Harry Ransom Center," University of Texas Press, Austin, 2010, page 300.