Abstract | Keywords | Export | Availability | Bookmark

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

While the American silent movie was one of the most significant popular art forms of the modern age, it is also one that is largely lost to us, as more than eighty percent of silent films have disappeared, the victims of age, disaster, and neglect. We now know about many of these cinematic masterpieces only from the collections of still portraits and production photographs that were originally created for publicity and reference. Capturing the beauty, horror, and moodiness of silent motion pictures, these images are remarkable pieces of art in their own right. In the first history of still camera work generated by the American silent motion picture industry, David S. Shields chronicles the evolution of silent film aesthetics, glamour, and publicity, and provides unparalleled insight into this influential body of popular imagery. Exploring the work of over sixty camera artists, "Still" recovers the stories of the photographers who descended on early Hollywood and the stars and starlets who sat for them between 1908 and 1928. Focusing on the most culturally influential types of photographs - the performer portrait and the scene still - Shields follows photographers such as Albert Witzel and W. F. Seely as they devised the poses that newspapers and magazines would bring to Americans, who mimicked the sultry stares and dangerous glances of silent stars. He uncovers scene shots of unprecedented splendor - visions that would ignite the popular imagination. And he details how still photographs changed the film industry, whose growing preoccupation with artistry in imagery caused directors and stars to hire celebrated stage photographers and transformed cameramen into bankable names. Reproducing over 150 of these gorgeous black-and-white photographs, "Still" brings to life an entire long-lost visual culture that a century later still has the power to enchant.

Motion picture actors and actresses --- Photographers --- Cinematography --- Acteurs et actrices de cinéma --- Photographes --- Cinéma --- Stills (Motion pictures) --- 77.04 --- 77 <73> --- fotografie --- film --- stille film --- filmstills --- filmgeschiedenis --- fotografiegeschiedenis --- Verenigde Staten --- twintigste eeuw --- negentiende eeuw --- glamourfotografie --- portretfotografie --- Hollywood --- Freulich Jack --- Longworth Bert --- Jones Ray --- Seely Walter Frederick --- Rice Arthur --- Lachman Harry --- Earle Ferdinand P. --- Curtis Edward S. --- Ellis John --- Mortensen William --- Boris M.I. --- Majdrakoff Boris Ivan --- Abbe James --- Albin Charles --- Alexander Kenneth --- Waxman Henry --- Brown Milton --- Earle Edward C. --- Estep Junius --- Walling William Jr. --- Richee Eugene Robert --- Bachrach Ernest --- Ball Russell --- Powolny Frank --- Archer Fred --- Carsey Harold Dean --- Evans Nelson --- Spurr Melbourne --- Witzel Albert --- Matzene Richard Gordon --- Genthe Arnold --- McIntosh Burr --- Sartov Hendrick --- Hurrell George --- Eickemeyer Rudolf Jr. --- Sarony Napoleon --- Falk Benjamin J. --- 77.036 --- Artistieke fotografie. Foto's naar het onderwerp --- Fotografie--Verenigde Staten van Amerika. VSA. USA --- 77 <73> Fotografie--Verenigde Staten van Amerika. VSA. USA --- 77.04 Artistieke fotografie. Foto's naar het onderwerp --- Acteurs et actrices de cinéma --- Cinéma --- Boris M.I --- Curtis Edward S --- Earle Edward C --- Earle Ferdinand P --- Eickemeyer Rudolf Jr --- Falk Benjamin J --- Walling William Jr --- Photography --- Chronophotography --- Photographs --- Animated pictures --- Motion pictures