Ruth Harriet Louise
Ruth Harriet Louise (actually Ruth Harriet Goldstein , born January 13, 1903 in New York , † October 12, 1940 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American photographer. She was the first female professional photographer to establish herself in Hollywood . From 1925 to 1930 she headed the portrait studio of the film production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .
First years
Ruth Goldstein was born in Harlem , a New York neighborhood known as the center of African American culture. Her father, who came from London , was a rabbi in a progressive synagogue . Her mother Klara Jacobsen Goldstein came from Vienna . In 1915 the family moved to New Brunswick , New Jersey . Her brother Mark later became a film director under the stage name Mark Sandrich . Her cousin Carmel Mayers, a silent film actress, was friends with Mary Pickford .
As a teenager, Ruth Goldstein met society photographer Nikolas Murray in New York. She had herself portrayed in his studio in Greenwich Village and on that occasion decided to become a photographer herself. She enrolled at a training center for photographers - but then preferred training with Nikolas Murray, who had inspired her to choose her career path. In 1922, at the age of 19, she opened her own one-room photo studio in New Brunswick. She gave herself the stage name Ruth Harriet Louise.
Hollywood
In the spring of 1925, the photographer moved to Hollywood, where her brother Mark worked as a screenwriter for cultural films. She opened a tiny photo studio on Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. Her first clients were budding actors who needed application photos. The producer Samuel Goldwyn became aware of them and had portraits made of his latest discovery Vilma Bánky . In the summer of 1925, twenty-two year old Ruth Harriet Louise was hired by MGM to run the film company's portrait photo studio. This made her the first and only woman in this position at any film studio in Hollywood.
Over the next five years, Louise photographed all of the stars and starlets who were under contract with the film company, including Greta Garbo , John Gilbert , Joan Crawford , Marion Davies , Buster Keaton and Norma Shearer . Not only did she shoot in a cool, elegant style, she also gave tips on how her clients could best present their personalities in front of the camera. Friendships developed. She was best friends with Joan Craword, whose breakthrough from unknown choir girl to star she accompanied with her pictures. Professionals estimate that Louise took over 100,000 photos during her time at MGM. Outside of the studio, President Herbert Hoover let her take photos of himself . Today she is counted among the most notable photographers of her time, on a par with George Hurrell and other well-known society photographers.
She married the screenwriter and director Leigh Jason and left MGM in 1930. Her brother Mark was now a successful director of a number of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals. Louise had two children. Her son died of leukemia . In 1940 she herself died of complications during the birth of another child. Her portraits have been exhibited in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC and have been printed millions of times.
Portraits
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Exhibitions
2019: Hollywood Icons. Photographs from the John Kobal Foundation. Greta Garbo, Humphrey Bogart, Alfred Hitchcock & Co. in the Ludwig Galerie Schloss Oberhausen
literature
- Robert Dance, Bruce Robertson: Ruth Harriet Louise and Hollywood glamor photography. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley 2002, ISBN 0-520-23347-6 ( preview ).
Web links
- Ruth Harriet Louise on Flickr
- Greta Garbo photographs by Ruth Harriet Louise
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Louise, Ruth Harriet |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Goldstein, Ruth Harriet (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American photographer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 13, 1903 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | new York |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 12, 1940 |
| Place of death | los Angeles |