Female Portrait Photographs by Carl Van Vechten

Carl Van Vechten (1880 – 1964) was an American writer and artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein.

In the 1930s, Van Vechten began taking portrait photographs.

Among the many individuals he photographed were Josephine Baker, Tallulah Bankhead, Theda Bara, Harry Belafonte, Leonard Bernstein,  Karen Blixen, Jane Bowles, Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Ella Fitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Martha Graham, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Horst P. Horst, Mahalia Jackson, Frida Kahlo, Eartha Kitt, Henri Matisse, W. Somerset Maugham, Elsa Maxwell, Henry Miller, Joan Miró, Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Diego Rivera, Gertrude Stein, James Stewart, Alfred Stieglitz, Gloria Vanderbilt, Gore Vidal, Evelyn Waugh, Orson Welles and Anna May Wong.

 

Frida wearing a Tchuantepee gourd by Carl Van Vechten, 1932 via

Tallulah Bankhead by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 via

 Anna May Wong by Carl Van Vechten, 1935 via

Josephine Baker by Carl Van Vechten via

Gertrude Stein by Carl Van Vechten, 1935 via

Lillian Gish by Carl Van Vechten, 1937 via

Theda Bara by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 via

Karen Blixen by Carl Van Vechten, 1959 via

A Collection of Photos Of Famous Women Wearing the 1920s Popular Cloche Hat

 

French milliner Caroline Reboux, is considered the inventor of the cloche hat via

Gloria Swanson 1921 in a cloche hat via

 

Josephine Baker wearing a cloche via

A 1920s model wearing a black cloche hat via

Hollywood actress Joan Crawford via

A Collection of Vintage Photos Featuring Josephine Baker (1906-1975)

Josephine Baker was an American born French actress, singer, dancer and comedianne, but most importantly the first African American female to star in a motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and to become a world-famous entertainer.

Living in the slums of St. Louis. Starting from the age of eight Josephine was put to work cleaning houses.

She first danced for the public on the streets of St. Louis for nickels & dimes. Later, she became a chorus girl on the St. Louis stage. At 15 she married a Pullman porter named Baker, but left him when she ran away at age 17, because of racial discrimination.

She made her way to Paris, France. She first captured Paris audiences in La Revue Négre captivating audiences with Danse Sauvage which was exotic and had her performing in nothing but a feathered skirt.

When La Revue Nègre closed, Josephine starred in La Folie du Jour at the Follies-Bergère Theater. Her jaw-dropping performance, including a costume of 16 bananas strung into a skirt, cemented her celebrity status. Her Banana Dance is probably one of the most famous dances during the era. She was given such nicknames as the “Bronze Venus”, the “Black Pearl”, and the “Créole Goddess”.

Her first major motion picture was Zouzou from 1934.

She also is noted for her contributions to the civil rights movement in the US for assisting the French resistence during World War II in which she received the French military honor the Croix de guerre. To show that people from different cultures could live together, Baker took on 12 multinational children and called them her Rainbow Tribe.

One qoute about her reads as follows: “She kissed babies in foundling homes, gave dolls to the young and soup to the aged, presided at the opening of the Tour de France, celebrated holidays, went to fairs, joked with workers and did charity benefits galore. She was all over Paris, always good-natured and exquisitely dressed.” (source)

Josephine Baker, 1920s via

Josephine Baker via

Portrait of Josephine Baker, 1920’s via

Portrait of Josephine Baker for the Follies Bergère by Walery, 1926 via

Portrait of Josephine Baker in Paris qui remue at the Casino de Paris by Walery, 1930 via

Josephine Baker’s Banana Dance

Footage of Josephine Baker performing her infamous Banana Dance.

A Collection of Vintage Photos Feat. the Glamorous Fashion & Style of the 192Os

Clara Bow

Gloria Swanson in the Queen Kelly, 1929

 

Josephine baker´s Eton crop haircut

Louise Brooks short bobbed flapper hair

Marion Morehouse in Chanel. Photo by Edward Steichen, Vogue, 1926

Norma Shearer giving thanks for her amazing wardrobe collection in A Slave to Fashion, 1925

Bebe Daniels with an exotic animal, 1927

1920s icon Gilda Gray looking very glamorous

1920s girl with monocle

1920s style