Visualizing “The Sound of Genius”: Glenn Gould and The Culture of Celebrity in the 1950s

Abstract

This essay examines the role of photography, film, and television in constructing Glenn Gould’s identities as an artist and celebrity in the late 1950s. It combines close readings of visual texts with analyses of published and unpublished primary documents. Gould’s sudden rise to fame occurred in a period when technological and corporate changes were profoundly transforming North American music culture. Almost overnight, Gould became highly visible as a mass-mediated figure in the public domain. Beyond the breadth of his exposure, his burgeoning iconography was significant for its style and semiotic contents, which reflected both conventions of traditional portraiture and the influence of contemporary aesthetics. Drawing on media and communications theory, history and political economy, this article explores the ways in which the visualization of Gould derived from, and contributed to, larger social discourses about music and the body, gender and masculinity, technology and work, privacy and fame. While Gould’s exceptional musical talents were obviously crucial to his success, his stardom was equally a function of aggressive marketing strategies that successfully transformed him from a subject of critical adulation to an object of popular consumption.

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