VICTOR SKREBNESKI (1929-2020)
Bette Davis. Silver print, the image measuring 7½ inches (19.1 cm.) square, the sheet 10x8 inches (25.4x20.3 cm.), with Skrebneski's signature and date in ink on recto, and his credit stamp on verso. 1971

"There's a portrait of me by Skrebneski that pegged me perfectly, and that frightened me when I first saw it. I felt in control that day, during that sitting, but I could also recall feeling tired, of being aware of trying to maintain control, and, of course, that came through in the photo. Skrebneski didn't exhaust me, but I was exhausted that day, but being the good Yankee girl, the Puritan clock-puncher, I was going to give him the best God-damned Bette Davis he could imagine, so you see the fierceness in the pose, the angle of the cigarette, the hand that has touched and pushed so much, but you can also see the slackness of the muscles underneath, the giving in, the giving way. It's an acting exercise, if you will, but one in which I've been caught. I'm playing movie star and doing it damn well-most would fall for it-but the focus of an artist, an artist who knows how to wield that unforgiving eye of the camera, has found me out." -- Bette Davis