Reviews (9)

Charming & Amazing
I am so happy I found a book with plentiful Glamour photos. I especially love the Norma Shearer pics and the Rosalind Russell pics (especially the rather gothic cloak pic.) This book is not only insightful about how the pics were done but who Hurrell was. Truly beautiful and a must for any coffee table and/or collector.

I'm very happy to have this book in my library
Once upon a time, I was reading Empire magazine and suddenly I saw a promotion of The book Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits. The cover picture was very impressive. I didn't know George Hurrell before. As soon as I saw the picture, I decided to buy this book. So, after buying it and see the pictures inside, I just said: Wow! What a photographer he was. He's a genius. His works are magnificent. Great use of light and remarkable composition are the typical of his works. Definitly he's a master in the art of photography. You can find many fabulouse black & white photoes of your beloved actors and actresses in 30s and 40s as well as an interesting and useful biography of Hurrell. If you love cinema you won't regret after buying it. Your library misses this book.

GORGEOUS
This book is just filled with gorgeous photographs, in a beautifully dramatic and romantic style that is often missing in the photographs taken in more recent times. A wonderful book for photographers looking for a little inspiration, or those who have had a surfeit of the modern, photojournalistic approach to portraiture. Look at the light, the composition, and the drama! As photographers, we've shown these images to prospective bridal clients, who thought they only wanted "candids" taken at their wedding - "very few posed images" - who summarily changed their minds about "stuffy posed photography." Many of our portrait clients, who came to sessions loathing the idea of having to pose for the camera have found themselves having so much fun they don't want to stop when we've introduced some of the more dramatic poses similar to those used by Hurrell in a session. This book is also a bonanza for movie buffs - to see images of a young Joan Crawford, BEFORE retouching, freckles and all, and then to see the results of Hurrell's handiwork, is fun for fans -and his techniques impress those of us who do this for a living.

Luminous and informative
I am not too familiar with the Golden Age of Hollywood, but I am entranced by the pictures of stars like Jean Harlow. Hurrell was a master of portraiture, using light in the most effective way possible.

My favorite pictures are of Harlow, Crawford, and Dietrich. I took a black and white photography course in college, so I deeply appreciate the virtuoso style of Hurrell. I am equally impressed with the information the author included about how these pictures were taken. This book doubles as a nice "coffee table" book and an instructional manual.

For book every Portrait Photographers Library
A wonderfully written book which follows Hurrells life before, during and after Hollywood's golden years. Hurrell's huge ego dealing with Hollywood's huge egos make for great reading. His genius behind the camera is represented in the beautiful photographs printed throughout the book. As a person who enjoys reading biographies, I feel this book would appeal not just to photographers, but to Hollywood history buffs as well. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

What Hollywood glamour was all about
Perusing this coffee-table volume is as close as most of us will get to flipping through a stack of George Hurrell's own prints. There is virtually no text, just a brief chronology of the photographer's life and career. But before reaching that, you will see examples from 62 years of his work represented in 140 12-1/4 by 9-5/8-inch duotone plates, many of them shots that created the world's image of Hollywood in the 30's and 40's. The book proceeds chronologically, so that toward the end are post-WWII shots revealing that not even Hurrell could evoke glamour without the right subjects and environment. And the last plate in the book is a Dutch angle of the master himself, still shooting but obviously nearer the end than the beginning. Technically, the book is well printed, with the duotone process enhancing the large dark areas Hurrell loved to create. For my taste, he tended to print his darks too dark and lacking in detail, although his compositions usually supported these big "velvety" areas. However, achieving that look with ink often leads printers to darken the lighter end of the grey scale, too. And in this book, some plates ended up looking a bit muddy. But this is probably a minor quibble for true seekers after Hollywood's lost glamour. ... Read more