A Yellow Flower for Janet

In the late 1960s in Manhattan, where Janet Frame was living at the time, celebrity photographer Henry Grossman photographed the famous New Zealand author for a Time Magazine review of her new novel Yellow Flowers in the Antipodean Room (also known as The Rainbirds). The only copy I have of the photograph is this image taken from a blurry photocopy of the review page, but what a brilliant portrait of Janet it is. And it looks as though she is flourishing a yellow dahlia. That's the Janet I knew: playful, witty, ebullient, engaged, alive. Some great photographers photographed Janet Frame and highlighted many aspects of her personality - the genius of this photo is that it captures her optimistic cheerful nature, and yet - there's the shadow too, although it is not overemphasised, as some people do; here, the darkness takes its place as part of an inspired and brilliant portrait.