George Hurrell's Hollywood

Glamour Portraits 1925-1992

Contributors

By Mark A. Vieira

Foreword by Sharon Stone

Formats and Prices

Price

$65.00

Price

$82.00 CAD

Format

Format:

  1. Hardcover $65.00 $82.00 CAD
  2. ebook $16.99 $21.99 CAD

This item is a preorder. Your payment method will be charged immediately, and the product is expected to ship on or around November 12, 2013. This date is subject to change due to shipping delays beyond our control.

George Hurrell (1904 — 1992) was the creator of the Hollywood glamour portrait, the maverick artist who captured movie stars of the most exalted era in Hollywood history with bold contrast and seductive poses. This lavishly illustrated book spans Hurrell’s entire career, from his beginnings as a society photographer to his finale as the celebrity photographer who was himself a celebrity, and a living legend.

From 1929 to 1944 Hurrell was the “Rembrandt of Hollywood,” creating portraits of Marlene Dietrich, Norma Shearer, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, and Joan Crawford that were a blend of the ethereal and the erotic. His photos of Jane Russell sulking in a haystack made the unknown girl a star — without a film credit to her name. He immortalized leading males stars of the day from the Barrymores to Clark Gable and Gary Cooper. Latter photo shoots magnified the glamour of the likes of Warren Beatty and Sharon Stone.

Through newly acquired photos and in-depth research, photographer and historian Mark A. Vieira, author of Hurrell’s Hollywood Portraits, offers not only a wealth of new images but a compelling sequel to the story presented in his earlier book on Hurrell. Hurrell was himself a star — rich, famous, successful. Then, at the height of his career, he suffered a vertiginous fall from grace. George Hurrell’s Hollywood recounts, for the first time anywhere, Hurrell’s rise from the ashes — how movie-still collectors and art dealers pulled the elderly artist into a nefarious world of theft and fraud; how his undiminished powers gave him a second career; and how his mercurial nature nearly destroyed it.

The photographs that motivate this tale are luminous, powerful, and timeless. This book showcases more than four hundred, most of which have not been published since they were created. George Hurrell’s Hollywood is the ultimate work on this trailblazing artist, a fabulous montage of fact and anecdote, light and shadow.

Genre:

  • Years ago, writer-photographer Mark A. Vieira wrote and compiled a handsome book called Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits.This enormous and elegant volume supersedes it, not only in the quantity and quality of photographs it presents, but in Vieira's candid text, which expands on his earlier work and delves into the second part of Hurrell's life... I think it's fair to refer to this exquisite tome as definitive.
    - Leonard Maltin
    “A stunning collection of Hollywood portraits by George Hurrell, accompanied by an exploration of his life and career.”
    - Shelf Awareness

On Sale
Nov 12, 2013
Page Count
416 pages
Publisher
Running Press
ISBN-13
9780762450398

Mark A. Vieira

About the Author

Mark A. Vieira is a filmmaker, photographer, and writer who specializes in Hollywood history. He is the author of Warner Bros. 100, Forbidden Hollywood, Cecil B. DeMille, Into the Dark, and many other film-related titles. He is also the creator of the documentary series DeMille Is Hollywood. Vieira has also appeared in documentaries such as Turner Classic Movies’ Garbo. He has lectured at USC, UCLA, Lincoln Center, and Universal Studios. Vieira resides in the Westlake District of Los Angeles.

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