Kenneth's Salon
Located in a luxurious, four-story townhouse just off Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, Kenneth Battelle's salon was more than just a beauty parlor—it was a high society epicenter, where glamour and socialite culture intersected.
Kenneth (Last Day)
In 1961, Vogue magazine famously declared that “almost every famous female head in the world has gone or will go” to Kenneth. The legendary hairdresser cultivated a devoted following from the likes of Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Babe Paley, Brooke Astor, Jacqueline Kennedy and Rosalynn Carter.
Janet Ruttenberg began visiting Kenneth’s salon shortly after moving to New York in 1965. After years as a client, she turned her attention to capturing the salon’s extravagant atmosphere. Between 1983 and 1986, she produced a series of intaglio prints that distilled her impressions of the opulent setting and its cultural mystique.
Janet Ruttenberg’s Kenneth series comprises 22 intaglio prints depicting the celebrated hairdresser’s shop on East 54th Street. Ruttenberg developed her etching approach through research with Sue Fuller’s Cassatt soft-ground theory. The editioned prints were produced with the assistance of master printer Donn Steward.
Kenneth (Countess de Kadesky), Intaglio, soft ground on paper, 1985
Kenneths No. 1 light manner, Edition 11 of 17, N.D
Kenneth: Golden Rectangle, 1980s
Kenneth: Golden Rectangle, 1980s
Janet working on Golden Rectangle plate at Tinicum Farm, mid 1980s
This is an eccentric—even mad—undertaking that is, on reflection, quite marvelous. Shown is an inside view of the very inside world of Kenneth's, hairdresser to the rich and famous and sometimes beautiful. This very 20th-century versino of a lady at her toilette evokes the work of many artists, of course, but most directly Mary Cassatt. Ruttenberg's four-color process, in fact, evolved from her efforts to prove Sue Fuller's theory that Cassatt's color etchings were done from three color plates, mainly soft ground, and one master play in drypoint. Work began in 1983 with Kenneth Light Manner, a quite realistic rendering of the very recogniza ble Kenneth in the grand center salon as it was decorated by Billy Baldwin in seraglio red, rattan, and flowers. As Ruttenberg contined to etch more plates, usually at the salon itself, she grew more abstract and daring. Particularly fine are the three small 1986 editions—Hairnet, Spit Bite, and Reflections—each a co,plex view of mirrors reflecting mirrors. rollers and hairnets, darting hands, a world of veiled anticipation.
John T. Paoletti, The Print Collector's Newsletter, Vol. XVIII March-April 1987