The hats Dietrich wore for the camera were designed for her by John Fredericks and Lily Dache. In the film "Desire" she wore a black version of the felt slouch depicted here; the hunter green version was only for the publicity still. Dietrich went to such lengths to perfect her still portraits because more people saw them than the films. In 1931 the publicity department of just one Hollywood studio distributed almost a million stills to syndicated newspapers and magazines worldwide.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Marlene Dietrich
Artist:James N. Doolittle (American, 1890–1950)
Date:1936
Medium:Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:40.9 x 32.5 cm (16 1/8 x 12 13/16 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Accession Number:1987.1100.26
[Tom Jacobson to Waddell, May 4, 1981]; John C. Waddell
Active dates of photographer: 1920s-30s.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Portraits: A Century of Photographs," September 10, 2002–January 13, 2003.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Photography between the Wars: Selections from the Ford Motor Company Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Spring 1988). p. 43.
Hambourg, Maria Morris. The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 42.
T. Lux Feininger (American (born Germany), Berlin 1910–2011 Cambridge, Massachusetts)
ca. 1928
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