Photo by Elsa Dorfman, Courtesy of Elsa Dorfman Archive, MIT Museum
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Mather Students Elsa Dorfman
When she was director of the Mather darkroom, Dorfman took portraits of the students. Scribbled in ink beneath five students clutching toy trucks and stuffed animals are the names of accomplished students and aspiring businesspeople, attorneys, writers, and doctors. Though, in their portrait, they are how Dorfman saw them: youthful, unsure, and a bit angsty.
Elsa Dorfman Dress
Dorfman poses with a bright red dress. Today, each room of her family residence is covered wall-to-wall in a gallery of original prints, handwritten notes, and the art of friends and artists who she and her husband gave lodging to.
Elsa Dorfman and Her Giant Camera
Around 1980, Dorfman acquired one of the six large-scale Polaroid Land 20x24 cameras. The camera produced prints that were two feet tall. Dorfman’s style was soon characterized by these massive, unique portraits.
Ginsberg Dylan Elsa Dorfman
Allen Ginsberg looks down at Bob Dylan’s left hand as Dylan shapes a D chord on his fretboard, casually holding a cigarette in his other hand. This photo hangs in Harvard’s Office of the President.