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" Vanity Fair " : Portraits of an Age, 1914-36
Very Good Condition. Gentle Use.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1983
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October 30, 2023
This is a gorgeous collection of black and white portraits of the influential folk from the early years of the 20th. century photographed in exquisite style by the leading photographers of the period.
This book of extraordinary photographs was published in 1983 - portraits of many of the most celebrated American and European writers, artists, musicians, actors, athletes and public figures of the times -now more than 100 years ago- were discovered in a locked file cabinet at the offices of Conde Nast Publications. Many had been published in the original editions of Vanity Fair magazine.
"The magazine VANITY FAIR was not intended to be a 'picture' magazine. Yet it is generally agreed now that the portraits that appeared regularly in its pages were its best and most enduring feature. Frank Crowninshield, its editor, had a special flair for recognizing and employing a group of unusual photographers, many of them unknown at the time." Photographers in this collection include Man Ray, Stieglitz, Beaton, Steichen, James Abbe, Berenice Abbott, Horst, August Sander, Hoyningen-Huene, Nickolas Muray, Imogen Cunningham et al.
More than 200 photographs have been assembled for this collection, all faultlessly reproduced and each with a capsule summary of the importance of each individual making this book not just an eye-popping visual feast but a potted history lesson as well. Like me, most readers will be curious to learn more about these trend-setters of one of the most dynamic periods in world history.
Monet, Conrad, Gropius, Colbert, Fred & Adele, Joyce, O'Neill, Shaw, Lawrence, Chaplin, Hepburn, Dietrich, Lorre, Garbo, Picasso, Harlow, Stravinsky, Hemingway, Churchill, Stalin, Einstein, Colette, Boyer, Gish, Brooks, Toscanini, Dreiser, Negri, Valentino, Lunt & Fontanne, Swanson, Darrow, Cather, Lewis, Brice, Pavlova, Nijinsky, Gorky, Yeats - to mention just a few of the famous personalities featured.
With an extensive introduction by John Russell. "As Russell says. the readers of Vanity Fair 'must have been impressed subliminally by the fact that again and again what faced them on the pages was a definitive likeness. a likeness never to be bettered. a work of art in its own right.'"
Cover photo: Fairbanks and Pickford - photographed by Nickolas Muray, 1922.
Review based on Thames and Hudson (London) hardcover edition, 1983. 203 pages.
This book of extraordinary photographs was published in 1983 - portraits of many of the most celebrated American and European writers, artists, musicians, actors, athletes and public figures of the times -now more than 100 years ago- were discovered in a locked file cabinet at the offices of Conde Nast Publications. Many had been published in the original editions of Vanity Fair magazine.
"The magazine VANITY FAIR was not intended to be a 'picture' magazine. Yet it is generally agreed now that the portraits that appeared regularly in its pages were its best and most enduring feature. Frank Crowninshield, its editor, had a special flair for recognizing and employing a group of unusual photographers, many of them unknown at the time." Photographers in this collection include Man Ray, Stieglitz, Beaton, Steichen, James Abbe, Berenice Abbott, Horst, August Sander, Hoyningen-Huene, Nickolas Muray, Imogen Cunningham et al.
More than 200 photographs have been assembled for this collection, all faultlessly reproduced and each with a capsule summary of the importance of each individual making this book not just an eye-popping visual feast but a potted history lesson as well. Like me, most readers will be curious to learn more about these trend-setters of one of the most dynamic periods in world history.
Monet, Conrad, Gropius, Colbert, Fred & Adele, Joyce, O'Neill, Shaw, Lawrence, Chaplin, Hepburn, Dietrich, Lorre, Garbo, Picasso, Harlow, Stravinsky, Hemingway, Churchill, Stalin, Einstein, Colette, Boyer, Gish, Brooks, Toscanini, Dreiser, Negri, Valentino, Lunt & Fontanne, Swanson, Darrow, Cather, Lewis, Brice, Pavlova, Nijinsky, Gorky, Yeats - to mention just a few of the famous personalities featured.
With an extensive introduction by John Russell. "As Russell says. the readers of Vanity Fair 'must have been impressed subliminally by the fact that again and again what faced them on the pages was a definitive likeness. a likeness never to be bettered. a work of art in its own right.'"
Cover photo: Fairbanks and Pickford - photographed by Nickolas Muray, 1922.
Review based on Thames and Hudson (London) hardcover edition, 1983. 203 pages.
Displaying 1 of 1 review