Portrait of Carson McCullers by Emanuel Glicen Romano

Currently on View

Painter Emanuel Glicen Romano, who maintained a large literary social circle, met Carson McCullers (1917–1967) in 1948 through David McDowell, McCullers's editor at Random House. The artist and the Southern Gothic writer subsequently became friends; McCullers later recalled bringing flowers to Romano's mother on numerous occasions. Romano painted and sketched several portraits of McCullers, and two—this one, and another depicting McCullers dressed in a shirt gifted to her by Tennessee Williams—are today part of the Ransom Center's art collection.

In this portrait, Romano depicts McCullers seated, with a pensive expression and her signature cropped haircut. Other works by Romano in the Center's collection include portraits of such writers as T. S. Eliot, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams, W. H. Auden, and McCullers's close friend Tennessee Williams. The works are part of the Hugo Dreyfuss Art Collection, which includes additional works on paper by Romano as well as sculptural works by Romano's father, Henryk Glicenstein (American, b. Poland, 1870–1940).

The Center is also home to the Carson McCullers Collection of manuscripts, which comprises an extensive number of McCullers's essays, poems, and drafts of her stories and novels, including The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding. These materials are accessible for research in our reading room.

A second Romano portrait of McCullers—that depicting the writer in her study, wearing Williams's gifted shirt—was recently conserved, thanks to the many generous supporters who contributed to our Collection Care Fund in 2024.