Winold Reiss believed that portraits were windows
into the souls of his subjects as well as renderings of their
faces and forms. Motivated by his big-hearted humanism, Reiss
also loved variety and believed that a full appreciation of
the universal could only come about through contact with diversity.
After arriving in the United States in 1913, Reiss traveled
widely and produced about a thousand portraits during his
long and productive career. Because of his fine eye and emotional
sympathy with his subjects, Reiss also received commissions
from social reform journals such as The Survey Graphic
and commercial enterprises such as the Great Northern
Railroad to produce portraits that today remain a powerful
and unique representation of North Americans. —JCS
The images that follow are
arranged in approximate chronological order, despite the difficulty
of determining exact dates for some of the work. Unless noted
otherwise, works are from various private collections both
here and abroad, some through the courtesy of owners who wish
to remain anonymous. Clicking on a thumbnail will take you
to an enlarged view of the image and a more detailed description.
