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PAUL BOWLES: GALLERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS

EARLY PORTRAITS OF PAUL BOWLES, Part One

Paul Bowles at Jamaica High School (New York) in 1926, Paul Bowles in Paris in 1930, Bowles with Gertrude Stein's dog "Basket", and a picture taken by Aaron Copland during Bowles' first trip to Tangier, Morocco in August 1931. The three last photos are owned and copyright by Phillip Ramey, and are of Paul Bowles on Long Island in 1931, and two portraits of Paul Bowles in New York City in the early-1930s.


Paul Bowles's Jamaica High School photograph. Jamaica, Queens, New York, 1926		Paul Bowles in Paris, 1930


Paul Bowles holds Gertrude Stein's dog, "Basket", on the terrace at her summer home at Bilignin, in southern France, during the summer of 1931. A valley lay below, and on a clear day, Mont Blanc was visible in the distance. Soon Gertrude Stein, Alice Toklas and Paul Bowles, whom Stein nicknamed "Freddie"—had another houseguest at Belignin— Aaron Copland, who had been staying in Berlin. Miss Stein advised Bowles to go to Tanger (Tangier), a place which had a mild year-around climate and which was not expensive. Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas had made three vacations to Tangier in earlier years. Following their stay with Stein and Toklas at Belignin, Bowles and Copland boarded the Iméréthie II for the Mediterranean crossing from France to Morocco. The ship had a change in its itinerary and stopped first in Oran, Algeria. Although the climate was hot and dry in North Africa, they managed to explore Oran and its surrounding area for a number of hours before returning to the ship. The following day the ship arrived at its final destination of Ceuta, at that time part of Spanish Morocco, on the northern coast of Morocco. (Ceuta is a Spanish territorial enclave.) From here Bowles and Copland boarded a train, which stopped in Tetouán before they eventually arrived in Tanger. (This photograph was taken by Gertrude Stein. Collection of Phillip Ramey; Copyright @ by Phillip Ramey)		Paul Bowles relaxing and typing in the sun on his first visit to Tangier, Morocco in August 1931. This photograph was taken by Aaron Copland, Bowles' friend and music teacher. When Bowles and Copland arrived in Tangier, they decided to stay at the new El Minzah Hôtel because Stein's recommended place, the Grand Hôtel Villa de France, was completely filled with vacationers. After ten days of searching for a house, Bowles located an unfurnished house near the top of the Old Mountain in Sidi Masmoudi. Here they furnished the house with basics, and found an upright, out-of-tune piano, which fell off a donkey during its transport. In this house Bowles and Copland worked on their musical compositions, and explored Tangier. In the autumn of 1931, Bowles and Copland sold the furnishings and moved on to Fez, where they were later joined by Harry Dunham, a Princeton student who had taken a year off from his studies to learn the dance in Germany. After some days in Fez, Copland returned to Berlin, where he had been before he went to Belignin, France. Paul Bowles continued his travels in Morocco, exploring Marrakech and Ouarzazate which he thoroughly enjoyed, before returning to New York. (The photograph above was taken by Aaron Copland in the summer of 1931.)

Paul Bowles on Long Island, New York, 1931 (Collection of Phillip Ramey)


Paul Bowles, early 1930s (Collection of Phillip Ramey; Copyright © by Phillip Ramey)		Paul Bowles, early 1930s (Collection of Phillip Ramey; Copyright © by Phillip Ramey)

Paul Bowles, sometime in the 1930s

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Early Portraits, Part One. Next, Part Two. Return to Galleries.

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