Amazon.com
They had faces then, in the golden age of Hollywood when a publicity photo could make or break a star. The visual power of George Hurrell's portraits, with their Rembrandtesque lighting and dramatic poses, shaped the careers of such stars as Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, and Jane Russell, and did as much or more to establish them as their film performances. Mark Vieira, who adopted Hurrell's techniques and uses them to this day, explains how the master portraitist lit and retouched his photographs--a portrait of Crawford before and after retouching reveals what an artist the one-time painter really was--and analyzes their impact.
From Library Journal
George Hurrell was the most sought-after celebrity photographer in Hollywood's Golden Era. He had total control of light, the complete confidence of his subjects, and a storied reputation for making the ordinary beautiful and the beautiful dazzling. The Chapman Collection is one of the most extensive archives of Hurrell's photographs in the world. A close friend of the photographer, Vieira has carefully selected 275 of the images from the collection for this book. The selections leave the reader with a reassuring sense of familiarity with the hundreds of stars, who are remembered here as the film studios planned?as people who amazed us and were bigger than life. Vieira has collected and arranged the stars in this volume in an admiring way, turning Hurrell's incredible ability to merge glamour, creative lighting, star quality, and imaginative posing into a timeless book. Recommended for general collections.?David Bryant, New Canaan P.L., Ct.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
