Stanley Tretick Photos Now Available Online
Stanley Tretick, who died in 1999 at age 77, was probably best known for his images of President John F. Kennedy and his family, taken in informal setting in the White House. Without doubt his most famous photo showed President Kennedy sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, with John Kennedy Jr. playing in a cubby hole below. Tretick was one of Look magazine's great photographers, a fact that explains why many people have never heard of him or had access to him images.
Stanley Tretick, who died in 1999 at age 77, was probably best known for his images of President John F. Kennedy and his family, taken in informal setting in the White House. Without doubt his most famous photo showed President Kennedy sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, with John Kennedy Jr. playing in a cubby hole below. Tretick was one of Look magazine’s great photographers, a fact that explains why many people have never heard of him or had access to him images. When Look folded in 1971, the magazine’s owners gave the entire archive of the publication, including the copyright to the imagery, to the Library of Congress (undoubtedly for tax reasons). For years, the work was essentially unavailable for collectors–and even the photographers who shot the images for Look. Now Tretick’s work is available online at stanleytretick.com. The new archive was created by the writer Kitty Kellley, a longtime companion of the photographer and the executor of his estate. This is a big development for those of us who regard the Look archive as an overlooked treasure.–David Schonauer