Editor’s Note: Looking through the archive it feels like Truman Capote was almost as much in Vogue as he was hobnobbing with his society swans. It’s not surprising to learn that the author of Breakfast at Tiffany’s had a taste for the finer things in life. Some of Capote’s possessions will be sold by Cornell Auctions on November 21. A number of the lots appeared in a 1976 Vogue article, written by Leo Lerman, a virtual tour of “Capote’s Zoo.” Printed in black-and-white in the magazine, we are able to share color pictures of these figurines, and a few that didn’t make the edit.—LBP
“Capote’s Zoo,” by Leo Lerman with photographs by Horst P.
Horst, was originally published in the July 1976 issue of Vogue. It’s no secret that Truman Capote—Little T. to those who love him, The Tiny Terror to those who hate-love him—is passionate about secrets: his own, other people’s. His books are rife with them, brought to horrendous or hilarious or exquisite flower. The star-y role he plays in Neil Simon’s movie, Murder by Death, explodes with secrets.
And in his apartment and three houses (Manhattan, Long Island, California, Switzerland), Truman has accumulated hundreds of objects—a zoo of beasts, many of which conceal secret repositories—little drawers, infinitesimal hollows. “I’ve just been collecting for thousands of years,” says Little T.—his speaking voice ranges at least three octaves per sentence, from Little Nell to Old Mischief.
And I bought all of these animals
“And I bought all of these animals. I’ve collected them—well, all over the world. Why animals? I love animals per se, in real life.” Maggie, the presiding “real” beast, is a sedately rampageous, hideously attractive English bull, referred to by Capote as “my little doggie.” Little T. continues, “And I like objects, ’specially objects that are—well, I don’t like them just for themselves.
Usually I like them to be something else other than what they are. Like that English dog’s head over there with that cap on his head [Truman sometimes wears one very like it]—he’s one of my favorites, and he’s a tobacco jar. My house at the beach’s got just loads of marvelous, curious objects.”
And that’s what Truman Capote’s Zoo is all about: “marvelous, curious objects,” collected seriously for years—the inanimates like the ones on these pages, the animates in his writings from “Miriam” to Other Voices, Other Rooms to In Cold Blood to Answered Prayers—with its gamy-rich, pants-down fill of look-look-now, isn’t that Lady Κ., B.P., Princess R., T.W.?
Isn’t that Little T. just loving them all to death for posterity? … Little T. smiles seraphically, as he contemplates his zoo, peering at a life-sized, carved wooden tree about whose branches winds a terrifying wooden serpent. “That,” he murmurs sweetly, “came off a Zen temple.”
Below, 24 residents of the Manhattan Branch of Truman Capote’s Zoo, complete with Trumanisms about his creatures.
Yellow with blue spots English Victorian porcelain cat
Yellow with blue spots English Victorian porcelain cat sitting on a blue textile against a red wall, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Russian frog sculpture that doubles as a box sitting on a red pillow with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** English bronze frog statuette with a spherical inkwell on its back and one leg on a little barbell, sitting on a red pillow with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Green rocking parrot child’s toy with a brass base made by Quakers sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** 17th century yellow ceramic Japanese cat with a bell and rope and ruffled collar sitting on a red pillow on top of a blue textile, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Silver Portuguese giraffe figurine on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** Meissen porcelain hen
*** Local Caption *** Meissen porcelain hen and rooster copulating statuette on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Chinese bronze rat candlesticks sitting on a yellow textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** Meissen rabbit porcelain figurine on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** 18th century Japanese blue and white porcelain cat sitting on a blue textile, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** 18th century silver Italian carved owl sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Japanese gold chipmunk sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** Yellow green porcelain animal
*** Local Caption *** Yellow green porcelain animal painted with black and white hearts and dots and designed with a moving bobble head, sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** White English porcelain horned owl tobacco jar sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** Eskimo walrus figurine carved from an actual walrus tusk that doubles as a small box, sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Carved dog head wearing a cap, collar, and bow tie that is actually an English tobacco box sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** Carved Japanese fish sitting on a yellow textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Two hand-carved ivory Chinese bird boxes sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
*** Local Caption *** Gold Japanese rabbit sitting on a blue textile with a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment. *** Local Caption *** Meissen parrot head sitting on a red pillow with a yellow textile and a red wall behind it, part of author Truman Capote’s ‘Zoo’ of miniature animal sculptures in his Manhattan, New York, apartment.
Source: www.vogue.com
