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Obsession: Marlene Dietrich: The Pierre Passebon Collection
Parisian gallery owner, antiques dealer, and style tastemaker Pierre Passebon curates his favorite portraits of Marlene Dietrich by world-class photographers in this exquisite cloth-bound volume.
Featuring rare images from Pierre Passebon’s personal collection, this volume celebrates Marlene Dietrich, Hollywood’s iconic femme fatale, as immortalized by master photographers including Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Milton Greene, George Hurrell, Antony Armstrong-Jones, and others. An active participant in her photo sessions, she constructed her own unique image of charm and seduction.
Dietrich’s life was devoted to glamour for over forty in stage performances, on screen, and in concert. The public loved her. A modern and transgressive woman, she didn’t hesitate to break the rules by dressing in menswear (she was Yves Saint Laurent’s muse for his iconic tuxedos) or by being seen in public with her husband and her lovers (both male and female). Dietrich also refused to bend to Hollywood conventions around motherhood by raising her daughter in the limelight as well.
Her beauty, style, and elegance made her the archetypal femme fatale, but it was Dietrich’s unwavering confidence, gender fluidity, and firm stand against Nazism that made her a revolutionary and an icon. This volume reveals how her fascination lies not only in the way she inspired the greatest photographers and fashion designers of her time, but in how she continues to embody the essence of glamour and female independence today.
Featuring rare images from Pierre Passebon’s personal collection, this volume celebrates Marlene Dietrich, Hollywood’s iconic femme fatale, as immortalized by master photographers including Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, Milton Greene, George Hurrell, Antony Armstrong-Jones, and others. An active participant in her photo sessions, she constructed her own unique image of charm and seduction.
Dietrich’s life was devoted to glamour for over forty in stage performances, on screen, and in concert. The public loved her. A modern and transgressive woman, she didn’t hesitate to break the rules by dressing in menswear (she was Yves Saint Laurent’s muse for his iconic tuxedos) or by being seen in public with her husband and her lovers (both male and female). Dietrich also refused to bend to Hollywood conventions around motherhood by raising her daughter in the limelight as well.
Her beauty, style, and elegance made her the archetypal femme fatale, but it was Dietrich’s unwavering confidence, gender fluidity, and firm stand against Nazism that made her a revolutionary and an icon. This volume reveals how her fascination lies not only in the way she inspired the greatest photographers and fashion designers of her time, but in how she continues to embody the essence of glamour and female independence today.
88 pages, Hardcover
Published January 16, 2018
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February 6, 2019
[I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a review; full review originally posted at http://vivelaqueen.blogspot.com/2018/...]
Marlene Dietrich is one of the most beloved figures in all of Hollywood, old or new. She was enigmatic, independent, and completely unforgettable. Her decades-long reign over film and stage was unique not just in length but form: Dietrich was not afraid to ignore social boundaries and strict Hollywood rules; the resulting public image she curated for herself was that of an independent, confident woman who was the inspiration for filmmakers, writers, photographers, and women around the world.
Obsession: Marlene Dietrich, The Pierre Passebon Collection by Jean-Henry Servat is slim volume with just 88 pages, but it boasts 60 black and white photographs and an extensive interview with Pierre Passebon. In addition to this interview, there are various quotes and passages related to Dietrich's legacy inserted throughout the book.
Passebon the creator of the Galerie du Passage in Paris and an extensive collector of Marlene Dietrich photographs. His personal collection includes 2,000 photographs and is one of the most complete Dietrich collections in the world. It is Passebon's interest--his "obsession," as he calls it--in Dietrich that makes the interview well worth reading for anyone with even a passing interest in Marlene Dietrich. Passebon offers insight into Dietrich's career as well as her control over her personal image, and her distinct willingness to ignore normal Hollywood boundaries. Of particular interest are the passages discussing Dietrich's actions during WWII and her later years.
The photographs featured in the book are some of the more intriguing Dietrich photos to come out of her career. The photographers include John Engstead, Irving Penn, Cecil Beaton, George Hurrell, Edward Steichen, among other photographers whom she favored. The photographs include shots of Dietrich in some of her most iconic looks, behind the scenes portraits, as well as many of the engaging studio portraits that helped Dietrich curate her iconic image. They are reproduced with nice, crisp quality. The book is compact (6" x 8.5") and so readers should not expect a huge coffee table style book but something smaller and more intimate. The book is distinctly aimed towards fans of Marlene Dietrich who want to gain insight from Passebon and his personal collection, rather than being a typical photography book.
I recommend Obsession: Marlene Dietrich, the Pierre Passebon Collection for fans of Marlene Dietrich and anyone with an interest in this enigmatic figure of classical Hollywood.
Marlene Dietrich is one of the most beloved figures in all of Hollywood, old or new. She was enigmatic, independent, and completely unforgettable. Her decades-long reign over film and stage was unique not just in length but form: Dietrich was not afraid to ignore social boundaries and strict Hollywood rules; the resulting public image she curated for herself was that of an independent, confident woman who was the inspiration for filmmakers, writers, photographers, and women around the world.
Obsession: Marlene Dietrich, The Pierre Passebon Collection by Jean-Henry Servat is slim volume with just 88 pages, but it boasts 60 black and white photographs and an extensive interview with Pierre Passebon. In addition to this interview, there are various quotes and passages related to Dietrich's legacy inserted throughout the book.
Passebon the creator of the Galerie du Passage in Paris and an extensive collector of Marlene Dietrich photographs. His personal collection includes 2,000 photographs and is one of the most complete Dietrich collections in the world. It is Passebon's interest--his "obsession," as he calls it--in Dietrich that makes the interview well worth reading for anyone with even a passing interest in Marlene Dietrich. Passebon offers insight into Dietrich's career as well as her control over her personal image, and her distinct willingness to ignore normal Hollywood boundaries. Of particular interest are the passages discussing Dietrich's actions during WWII and her later years.
The photographs featured in the book are some of the more intriguing Dietrich photos to come out of her career. The photographers include John Engstead, Irving Penn, Cecil Beaton, George Hurrell, Edward Steichen, among other photographers whom she favored. The photographs include shots of Dietrich in some of her most iconic looks, behind the scenes portraits, as well as many of the engaging studio portraits that helped Dietrich curate her iconic image. They are reproduced with nice, crisp quality. The book is compact (6" x 8.5") and so readers should not expect a huge coffee table style book but something smaller and more intimate. The book is distinctly aimed towards fans of Marlene Dietrich who want to gain insight from Passebon and his personal collection, rather than being a typical photography book.
I recommend Obsession: Marlene Dietrich, the Pierre Passebon Collection for fans of Marlene Dietrich and anyone with an interest in this enigmatic figure of classical Hollywood.
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