Episode 5: The Monkey on Her Back

The photograph discussed in Episode 5  is Hansel Mieth’s iconic shot of a Rhesus Macaque monkey sitting off the waters of Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. This particular print- a rare vintage image- was featured in an auction called 50 Masterworks to Celebrate 50 Years of Sotheby’s Photographs, on 21 April 2021.

Hansel Mieth, Rhesus Monkey, 1939. Copyright Hansel Mieth- The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images.

This is the back of the photo. You can see the photographer’s credit stamp, signature, and date.

In the 16 January 1939 issue, LIFE magazine published this image as ‘The Picture of the Week.’ Mieth later recounted the making of the portrait:

“One afternoon all the doctors were away, and a little kid came running to me and said, ‘A monkey’s in the water.’ I came down, and that monkey was really going hell-bent for something. ‘He is not coming back,’ I said. ‘I better go in and get him’. . . I threw my Rolleiflex on my back and swam out. . .Finally, I was facing the monkey. I don’t think he liked me, but he sat on that coral reef there, and I took about a dozen shots.”

(as quoted in Unfinished Stories, pp 38 and 40)

LIFE Magazine, 16 January 1939 issue.

Hermione Sharp, my colleague in the Photographs department at Sotheby’s, was the key researcher on this photograph for the auction, and in her essay she wrote:

“LIFE editors captioned this image ‘A misogynist seeks solitude in the Caribbean off Puerto Rico,’ immediately imbuing it with humor and lightheartedness. One of the writers had decided that publishing magnate Henry Luce resembled the monkey when angry – which quickly became an inside joke among staff. The narrative printed alongside the image was also problematic and somewhat misleading. It explained that the male macaque ran from the jungle into the water, which rhesus monkeys typically avoided, in order to escape the raucous chatter of the female monkeys. This not only played into the blithe ‘misogynist’ label, but also oversimplified the complex research being conducted on the island. Mieth cared deeply for the animals and had immense admiration for the scientists’ work. Mieth often referred to this photograph as ‘the monkey on my back.’ Despite its popularity after its initial publication, Mieth felt ambivalent, if not downright negative, about it because of the way it was appropriated.”

Mieth and Hagel were tireless in their photographic endeavors, documenting the “Hoovervilles” around Sacramento and San Francisco, as well as the plight of migrant workers, longshoremen, and dockworkers. On assignment for LIFE, Mieth also documented life in the Heart Mountain Japanese-American internment camp. Together, Hagel and Mieth worked on a series documenting the lives of the Pomo Indians, an American Indian tribe indigenous to Sonoma County, California.

You can learn more about Hansel Mieth and her husband, Otto Hagel, by visiting the website for the Center for Creative Photography. They hold the couple’s archives and many images are online.

The Hansel Mieth Prize is awarded every year to a photojournalist who has defied pressures or threats from prominent lobbying groups.