To some extent, the relationship between film and photography can be traced back to a native of Cincinnati named Theodosia Goodman. Early in the last century, pioneering moviemakers weren't aware that the actors in their productions might become widely known to the public. Then they began receiving requests from moviegoers for information and pictures of their favorite performers, one of whom was Ms. Goodman, whose stage name was Theda Bara. These actors became the first movie stars, their faces made epic by pictorialist photographers of the era who knew how to create an exotic ambience in their images. Along with the photos came fan magazines such as Photoplay and Motion Picture Story, which also sold photographic prints to the public.
By 1930 movie companies had set up large photo studios for in-house photographers. Hollywood's Golden Age was also a golden age of Hollywood photography. Photographers like Hurrell and Willinger, as well as Herbert Mitchell, Ted Allan, and others, used 8x10 cameras and lots of light and shadow to sculpt faces into forms that weren't merely beautiful, but perfect. Often, a young actor's potential to be a star was judged by how well he or she photographed. "There were a lot of people who were stars only because of their still pictures," said actress Loretta Young. "Their movies never meant anything."
This era of idealized, dramatic imagery largely ended with World War II, and in the postwar era Hollywood's great studio system broke apart. By the late 1950s the industry had reshaped itself with independent producers, actors, publicists, and photographers. More blatant sexuality appeared in movie imagery, featuring a new generation of stars like Marilyn Monroe. Photography itself changed with the widespread use of the 35mm SLR. When Life magazine went to the movies it featured a less formalized, more journalistic style of photography by people like John Florea and Bob Willoughby. By the 1970s another generation of photographers, including Douglas Kirkland and Terry O'Neill, began moving the aesthetic in a more glamorous direction, but their work remained essentially journalistic.
The 1970s saw an upsurge of interest in classic cinema. In 1977 George Lucas released his blockbuster Star Wars, which largely recast traditional Hollywood genres (especially Westerns) as science fiction. Meanwhile, three young photographers in Hollywood brought back the notion of Hollywood glamour, thereby creating a second golden age of Hollywood imagery. Matthew Rolston, Greg Gorman, and Herb Ritts channeled the drama of Hurrell and Bull, often shooting in black and white -- a radical idea at the time. But they did not merely copy the masters; they infused their work with sexuality.
"By the end of the 1970s, conventional celebrity photography out of Los Angeles had gotten stale," says Rolston. "New York photography dominated. Avedon, Penn, Scavullo. The Los Angeles photography scene was looked down on by the New York publishing establishment as some kind of tasteless backwater." Rolston cites magazines like French Vogue and Andy Warhol's Interview as being "extremely influential" in developing the new take on celebrity imagery. "Andy had a strong point of view, deeply rooted in a love for the Golden Age of Hollywood," says the photographer. "Herb Ritts, myself, and others shared a retro point of view that caught the interest of New York-based magazines. That was the beginning of the resurgence of Hollywood glamour."
Print
Stumble It 
Comments
Be the first to comment!