Monday 10 October 2011

An Art Deco ornament


Michèle Morgan by Ernest A. Bachrach, 1940

One of the most beautifully stylised of all the photographs featured in the Glamour of the Gods exhibition, this embodiment of Art Deco symbolism portrays the otherwise largely unknown French actress as part of a statue or sculpture - merely an ornament.

Still alive today, aged 91, Mlle Morgan's French film career was cut short by WW2 and she moved to Hollywood. There she starred in some less-than-successful movies with the likes of Paul Henreid and the young Frank Sinatra, and after failing to land the lead in Casablanca returned to Europe, where she continued to have a hugely successful film career for the next few decades.

The photographer, Ernest Bachrach, also photographed Marilyn Monroe, Katherine Hepburn and Gloria Swanson – the latter hailing him as “the only photographer in the world".

Glamour of the Gods

3 comments:

  1. Borzois si continental, une declaration de vie de luxe.
    Michele Morgan cherie de France, une vie bien vecue.
    *d'Anjou

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