Ruth Harriet Louise and Hollywood glamour photography / Robert Dance and Bruce Robertson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dance, Robert, 1955-

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Robertson, Bruce, 1955-

Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Glamour photography.

Motion picture actors and actresses--United States--Portraits.

Motion picture actors and actresses.

United States.

Louise, Ruth Harriet, 1903-1940.

Louise, Ruth Harriet.

Genre:

Portraits.

Conference papers and proceedings.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

285 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press ; Santa Barbara : Published in association with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, [2002]

Summary:

When Ruth Harriet Louise joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio with "more stars than there are in heaven," she was twenty-two years old and the only woman working as a portrait photographer for the Hollywood studios. In a career that lasted from 1925 until 1930, Louise photographed all the stars, contract players, and many of the hopefuls who passed through the studio's front gates, including Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, and Norma Shearer. This book, which coincides with a major traveling retrospective of Louise's work, is the first collection of her remarkable photographs. Containing more than one hundred breathtaking images, it attests to the talent and vision of a surprisingly unknown photographer who formed the images and helped create the popularity of some of our most enduring stars. Louise shot about one hundred thousand negatives for MGM. Condensed into her photographs was all the glamour, drama, and excitement of the studio's feature productions. Louise's original photographs were circulated to millions of moviegoers, magazine and newspaper readers, and fans. The movies and publicity machine that these photographs supported shaped the basic notions of stardom, glamour, and fashion in the 1920s and still affect ours today. Robert Dance and Bruce Robertson recreate the entire panorama of the process and the era: from the moment a performer sat in front of Louise's camera to the point at which a fan pasted a star's picture into a scrapbook. They provide insight into Louise's work habits in the studio and describe the personal dynamics between Louise and the actors she photographed. They include a condensed account of the methods of other photographers, a sharp analysis of fan culture in the period, and superb readings of Louise's photographs. With its combination of well-known and rare images, all magnificently reproduced, this book is a fitting tribute to one of the most gifted and underappreciated glamour photographers of Hollywood's golden period.

Contents:

Ruth Goldstein Becomes Ruth Harriet Louise 61

Louise's Studio Practice 75

The Portrait Photograph 87

The Publicity Department and the Fan 97

Selling Fashion and Glamour 107

What Is a Star? 121

Queens of the Lot: Norma Shearer, Marion Davies, Joan Crawford 137

Photographing Garbo 157

Looking at Men: Ramon Novarro, John Gilbert, William Haines, Johnny Mack Brown 185

Telling Stories: Lillian Gish, Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, Marie Dressler 205

Leaving MGM 217

Appendix A. Garbo and Her Photographers, 1925-1929 225

Appendix B. MGM Photography Codes, 1924-1940 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-[276]) and index.

ISBN:

0520233476

0520233484

OCLC:

48494120