Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, and Laurence Olivier are three of the biggest names in the history of Hollywood and they all have one thing in common: they emerged from Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Between the 1910s and 1960s was Hollywood’s revolutionary years. Filled with exceptional talent, new camera technology, and more freedom for scipt writers. While the years of a thriving Hollywood industry seemed they would last forever, they did inevitably come to an end. This is the rise and fall of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
In 1980, while at Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers, I took one of my favorite courses of all time. The History of Photography, including darkroom work . We photographed using glass plates and chemical available during the different ages of photography as it developed as an art form. I have always believed that this course helped developed my style, gave me confidence in my visions and aided in overcoming my personal limitations.
Of course, the many technical courses taken, the skills learned and years of experiences have been imperative to me as an artist but the initial education about the beginning of image making and art history have been invaluable.
George Edward Hurrle, (1904-1992) photograph of actress Norma Shearer, who was attempting to mold her wholesome image into something more glamorous and sophisticated in an in the movie The Divorcee.
RUTH HARRIET LOUISE (1903-1940) in 1922, at just 19, to set up her own one-room studio in New Brunswick, New Jersey and advertise in the local business directory, “’Won’t you visit my studio, and let me perpetuate your personality.” Three years later she headed to Hollywood and photographed Greta Garbo.
underwater portraits inspired by Hollywood glamour
Susan J Roche fine art underwater portrait photographer
Cicil Beaton (1904 –1980) was one of the foremost photographers of the twentieth century, best known for his elegant and unusual shots of celebrities and royalty. His fascination with glamour and high society continued throughout his life. In 1929, in his early twenties, he was hired by Condé Nast and chronicled the golden age of fashion with his 8×10 inch camera for the glossy pages of Vogue and Vanity Fair, lensing 20th-century icons from Marlene Dietrich to Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, Sergei Diaghilev, Lucian Freud, Albert Camus, Marilyn Monroe, and Grace Kelly, among endless others.
MILTON H. GREENE (1922-1985) Greene initially established himself in high fashion photography in the 1940s and 1950s. His fashion shots appeared in Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue. Greene then turned to portraits of celebrities. He photographed many high-profile personalities in the 1950s and 1960s, including Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner, Sammy Davis, Jr., Catherine Deneuve, Marlene Dietrich, and Judy Garland. Greene’s work with Marilyn Monroe (whom he first shot for a layout for Look in 1953) changed the course of his career.
The two struck up a friendship and, when Monroe left Los Angeles to study acting with Lee Strasberg in New York City, she stayed with Greene, his wife Amy and young son Joshua in Connecticut. Together with Greene, Monroe formed Marilyn Monroe Productions, a production company in an effort to gain control of her career (from Hollywood powerhouses). Greene would go on to produce Bus Stop (1956) and The Prince and the Showgirl (1957). The two also collaborated on some 53 photo sessions, some of which became well known, including “The Black Sitting”. Greene’s photograph for one such sitting in 1954 featuring Monroe in a ballet tutu was chosen by Time Life as one of the three most popular images of the 20th century. Monroe and Greene’s friendship ended after the production of The Prince and the Showgirl in 1957 with Monroe firing Greene.