Hal Phyfe
{{short description|American photographer and illustrator}}
Herold Rodney Eaton "Hal" Phyfe (1892-1968) was a Broadway photographer famous for his theatrical portraits of the 1920s and 1930s.{{cite web |last1=Shields |first1=David |title=Hal Phyfe |url=https://broadway.cas.sc.edu/content/hal-phyfe |website=Broadway Photographs |publisher=University of South Carolina |accessdate=25 September 2020}} His photos have been described as "competent, but not in the Cecil Beaton or Edward Steichen league".{{cite web |last1=Pittenger |first1=Donald |title=Hal Phyfe's Pastel and Camera Portraits |url=https://artcontrarian.blogspot.com/2013/07/hal-phyfes-pastel-and-camera-portraits.html |website=Art Contrarian |date=29 July 2013 |publisher=Donald Pittenger |accessdate=27 September 2020}}
Biography
Hal Phyfe was born into an American family based in Nice, France. He is a descendant of the American furniture designer Duncan Phyfe. He opened a New York photography studio in 1926. He photographed a range of celebrities including Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., Anna Q. Nilsson and Carveth Wells. He became known as "the official photographer to high society" and "one of the best amateur cooks in Manhattan".{{cite book |last1=Davies |first1=Lisa E. |title=Undercover Girl: The Lesbian Informant Who Helped the FBI Bring Down the Communist Party |date=2017 |publisher=Charlesbridge Publishing |isbn=9781632892089 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=etZDDgAAQBAJ&q=hal+phyfe&pg=PA134}} He asked his subjects not to smile as they were being photographed.{{cite web |title=AN ORIGINAL HAL PHYFE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE EXPLORER AND AUTHOR CARVETH WELLS |url=https://www.bluemountainbooks.com/product/173734/AN-ORIGINAL-HAL-PHYFE-PHOTOGRAPH-OF-THE-EXPLORER-AND-AUTHOR-CARVETH-WELLS-Phyfe-Hal-Wells-Carveth |website=Blue Mountain Books |accessdate=25 September 2020}}
References
{{Commons category|Hal Phyfe}}
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Category:American portrait photographers
Category:20th-century American photographers
Category:American expatriates in France
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