Earlier this month, we ran a feature celebrating Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway with some manly books on the 50th anniversary of his death. Today, we’ve got a much happier reason for remembering Papa — the fact that he was born on this day in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. We’ve rounded up some of our favorite black and white photos of the author in every decade of his life — from a shot of Hemingway fishing with his family as a 5-year-old to pic of him sharing a moment with Fidel Castro during a fishing competition in 1960. Say what you will about the macho man, at least he was consistent in his interests.
Hemingway, age 5, fishing with his mother Grace, and his sisters Ursula and Marcelline, in 1904. Image via
Hemingway and his sister Marcelline as high school seniors in 1917. Image via
Hemingway recovering in the base hospital in Milan, 1918. Image via
Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley, on their wedding day in 1921. Image via
Hemingway with Hadley and friends in Pamplona, 1926. Photograph in the Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Ernest Hemingway with a bull near Pamplona, 1927. Photograph in the Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Ernest and his second wife, Pauline, in San Sebastian, 1927. Photograph in the Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Hemingway fishing in Key West, 1928. Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Hemingway on safari in Africa, 1934. Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Hemingway aboard his yacht, The Pilar, 1935.
Hemingway during the Spanish Civil War, 1938. © ROBERT CAPA © 2001 By Cornell Capa / Magnum Photos
Hemingway with his son Gregory, 1941. © ROBERT CAPA © 2001 By Cornell Capa / Magnum Photos
Hemingway with his fourth wife, Mary, in Cortina, 1948. © Graziano Arici Archives, Venice
Hemingway with Gregory at the Club de Cazadores in Cuba, 1950s. Photograph in the Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Hemingway with Mary at Hotel Gritti in Venice, 1954. Photo by Ettore Sottsass/Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche
Hemingway with Mary and Spencer Tracy at La Florida in Havana, 1955. Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
Hemingway celebrating at the festival of San Fermín in Plamplona, 1959. Image via
Hemingway with Fidel Castro during a fishing competition, 1960. © Andrew Saint-George / Magnum Photos