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When “Saturday Night Live” begins its 51st season this week, beyond the usual concerns as enduring as the sketch show itself — Who will be the new breakout stars? Is “Weekend Update” pulling punches? Is this thing even funny anymore? — please consider its bumpers, those fleeting portraits of the hosts and the musical guests, bumping into commercials. Lorne Michaels himself says it is one of the show’s least appreciated traditions, and for 50 years, those portraits have been made by only two photographers, both of whom have art books this year showcasing the “SNL” bumper.

It’s been the work of Mary Ellen Matthews for the past 25 years. She has shot almost 4,000 bumpers, a few hundred of which are included in her book, “The Art of the SNL Portrait.” She came to the job through Edie Baskin, her mentor, who created the “SNL” bumper tradition in 1975. Baskin’s book is “Live from My Studio: The Art of Edie Baskin.”

Their portraits, assembled in breathless sprints to airtime, are seen during the telecasts for three seconds, give or take a second. Bad Bunny reclining in a giant Flor de Maga, the national flower of Puerto Rico. Carrie Fisher, wearing bunny ears, crouched in a skeletal fall garden. Emma Stone playing Gilda Radner. Steve Martin, at the peak of his ‘70s stand-up era, behind reflective shades, lounging. The Foo Fighters as the cast of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Neither Baskin nor Matthews invented the format itself, though collectively, to flip through their photos is to catch a history of celebrity portraiture (and its 21st century downfall). Baskin’s hand-tinted black-and-whites, often tawdry and lovely at once, harking back to the days of cheap Hollywood fan magazines, captured the allure of New York City even at its dirtiest, sketchiest low points in the 1970s. Matthews’ bumpers, high concept, sleek, surreal, hilarious cultural homages, pick up the mantle left by Annie Leibovitz, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone and the declining importance of magazine covers.

“Because of who gets booked, I get to work with some of the most talented and famous people on the planet,” Matthew said the other day. “It becomes a collaboration with whomever, and you never want to repeat yourself, and you want to stay inspired, you want to keep it joyful, and I think you do that by not taking it too seriously. One time, Alec Baldwin wanted to be Brando in ‘The Godfather’ poster, and we figured a real cat would go on his lap, but a stuffed cat, in the moment, looked much funnier. You know what? Strike what I said. I take this seriously — I take this incredibly seriously.”

When “SNL” debuted in 1975, it filled a slot reserved for reruns of “The Tonight Show,” which used bumpers to signal to NBC affiliates to go to a commercial. The message was essentially: The show would return after these messages. Michaels, who created “SNL,” wanted a New York-centric take on those innocuous, anonymous sunny spots.

“I met Lorne at a poker game at the Chateau Marmont” in Los Angeles, Baskin recalled. “It was before ‘SNL.’ I had hand-tinted some pictures of cows I shot in Amarillo, Texas, during a cross-country trip with a boyfriend. And I had shot Las Vegas, and when I moved to New York, Lorne visited me and saw the photographs, and I asked him to consider me for his show, though no one but Lorne really understood what it was. He asked me to shoot New York City the way I shot Las Vegas, so at first, (bumpers) just showed New York at night. By the second show, I took a picture of Paul Simon then slipped it into the other images. Lorne asked me to do that for every show.”

By the end of that first season, celebrity bumpers became an “SNL” tradition.

Baskin, who had recently shot the album cover for Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years,” developed a loose routine. “I had one camera and two lenses,” she said. “I didn’t even have lighting gear so I would seat people on the floor of the writer’s room because it got actual sunlight. Really, there was so little time, you had to make it work.”

Some celebrities were “extremely uncooperative” (Raquel Welsh), but most played along. Carrie Fisher brought in her own bunny ears. Eric Idle stripped down entirely. The Grateful Dead arranged into a goofy scrum of limbs throw across each other’s faces.

Baskin’s photos, which took a nod from the early days of photography and added color through the use of oils and chalks and colored pens, quickly became inseparable from the show’s first years. You would never see John Belushi or Bill Murray’s cheeks look that rosy again. Some of what’s been collected for her book perfectly capture this initial flush of stardom. Her portrait of Talking Heads in 1979 could double for any hipster act 46 years later. Her image of Teri Garr, face buried inside a parka, fur tinted yellow, is a reminder of just how much the actress, who died a year ago, resembled sunshine itself.

Other images — James Taylor in New Wave greens and pinks — seem to point towards what the “SNL” bumper evolved into: the most famous people on Earth in a fresh light, looking more relaxed (Dick Cavett) or goofy (Elliot Gould) or vibrant (Christopher Lee).

Baskin made the show’s bumpers (and many of opening title sequences) until 2000, when Matthews took over. Matthews says that every year, she’s added to the format a bit. There are years when she seems especially inspired by painting. Last year, in homage to Baskin, Matthews added a little color to a number of bumpers. Other years, album covers show up a lot. She’s brought in a bit of animation, or blurs of motion. Emma Stone, as vintage Hollywood. Timothee Chalamet, as so chipper it could be a satire of the actor himself. Matt Damon, playing every member of the Beach Boys to recreate the cover of the group’s 1964 “Christmas Album.” Maya Rudolph recreating images of her mother, the Chicago singer Minnie Riperton. Blake Shelton as if he were in an old country Western promo shot. Ayo Edebiri with an Ayo angel and devil on her shoulders.

Tina Fey in a commercial bumper made for “Saturday Night Live.” It was shot by photographer Mary Ellen Matthews, who has made bumpers for the show since 2000. Her mentor, Edie Baskin, had the role from 1975 to 2000. (Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews)

Photographer Edie Baskin’s image of Steve Martin during the first years of “Saturday Night Live.” Baskin, who created the commercial bumpers for the first 25 years of the show, hand-tinted each image. Her new book, “Live From My Studio,” collects many of her best. (Courtesy of Edie Baskin and ACC Art Books.)

One of the almost 4,000 commercial bumpers made by photographer Mary Ellen Matthews for “Saturday Night Live.” This one, of Travis Kelce, like most of the others, comes together between Thursday and Saturday. (Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews)

Bill Murray, in one of the many portraits created for “Saturday Night Live” by photographer Edie Baskin, who shot all of the show’s title images and its commercial bumpers until 2000. For the first five years, many were hand-tinted by Baskin. A new book, “Live From My Studio,” collects many of her best photos. (Courtesy of Edie Baskin and ACC Art Books.)

Comedian John Mulaney in a commercial bumper made by photograher Mary Ellen Matthews for “Saturday Night Live.” She’s been making bumpers for the show since 2000. Mulaney has been one of her best collaborators. (Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews)

Sissy Spacek, in one of the commercial bumpers from a 1977 episode of “Saturday Night Live.” Photographer Edie Baskin Baskin created every “SNL” bumper until 2000, often using her signature hand-tinted manipulation of the images. A new book, “Live From My Studio,” collects many of her best. (Courtesy of Edie Baskin and ACC Art Books.)

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Tina Fey in a commercial bumper made for “Saturday Night Live.” It was shot by photographer Mary Ellen Matthews, who has made bumpers for the show since 2000. Her mentor, Edie Baskin, had the role from 1975 to 2000. (Photo by Mary Ellen Matthews)

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