Aug 13, 2020 - Sale 2544

Sale 2544 - Lot 43

Price Realized: $ 688
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750

JACK PASHKOVSKY (1911-2001)


A pair of photographs depicting tennis star Bill Tilden.
Silver prints, the images measuring 229x178 mm; 9x7 inches, the sheets slightly larger, each with Pashkovsky's credit stamp on verso. Circa 1935.

Bill Tilden was the first American to win the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1920, and for the following 6 years, he won every major tournament he entered. In the 1940s, Tilden's life was riddled with scandal as his sexuality, which had been somewhat known among his inner circles, but not publicized, came to light after two arrests for soliciting sex from teenage boys. Despite pervasive prejudice against gay men in the forties and fifties, and the public shock at his arrests and convictions, it is a testament to Tilden's talents that he was still considered synonymous with tennis in 1950. Over time, however, he was largely erased from tennis history and forgotten and shunned by both his tennis and Hollywood circles.