This is the first installment of what should end up becoming an irregular, ongoing series of posts highlighting "Louise Brooks art" - paintings, drawings, photographs, collages, cartoons, sculpture, etc . . . . all featuring the silent film star Louise Brooks, or at least in some way inspired by the actress. I have been meaning to start this series for some time now, as work is occasionally sent to me. And I also come across a lot it on sites like eBay and Etsy. So here goes.
James Ferguson is a British "dark artist" (and self-described former goth) who goes by the name of Byron Black. And just today, he sent me a couple of his portraits of Louise Brooks. Here is one of them, which I like.
More of his work, including a bunch of images and portraits of various silent film and early sound actors and actresses, can be found on the deviatART website at http://darkinc1.deviantart.com
Click on his gallery page, and you'll see other images of other film stars like Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Bela Lugosi, Max Shreck as Nosferatu, and Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein. [Trivia connection: it's known that director James Whale had considered Louise Brooks for the role of the Bride in the Bride of Frankenstein. Somehow, however, I can't imagine Brooks' black bob with a shock of white hair a la Lanchester. But who knows.]
Here is another image of Louise Brooks, this time not wearing her signature bob. It's another effective rendering. I also like the artist's use of a black and white and shades of grey palate.
If you have created a piece of Louise Brooks visual art and would like to have it considered for future inclusion in this informal series, please email me. My contact info is off on the left hand side of this blog.
3 comments:
This is a great idea! I always love being introduced to new amazing art(ists).
Check out the two portraits of Louise in her film roles by Brian M. Viveros at the bottom:
http://disposabledarling.com/blog/2010/01/19/art-cram/
A similar theme/scheme for oodles of Lulus is one of the most popular Threads of the humble LBS Discussion Board. I find the pictures more pleasing than the Brooks-inspired fiction.
Holy found art, Bobman! A search for news of Lulu brings word that Alban Berg's opera is being staged this month in Valentina's hometown, at a joint called La Scala. And a search for the operatic Lulu has brought art for a 2009 staging in Lyon -- art incorporating an image of Paramount's Louise Brooks. It seems to be from a Québécois opera buff -- http://cahiersmusiqueclassique.blog.ca/2009/03/30/lyon-lulu-d-alban-berg-a-l-opera-du-20-avril-au-2-mai-5860124/ .
P.S. Yesterday was W.C. Fields's birthday, according to The Woman Who Lived With Him For 14 Years, Carlotta Monti, author of "W.C. Fields & Me" "with Cy Rice" (RPL 5/11/71). I heartilly suggest you get a look at that book; it's 220 pages of observations by another woman who "studied dancing with Ted Shawn [and] Ruth St. Denis"....
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