Vintage pin ups

Some days ago I found by accident in Google this beautiful picture of Lillian Bond –an English actress of the 20s- taken by Alfred Cheney Johnston (1885-1971).

He photographed famous actresses –among them, Paulette Goddard, Gloria Swanson, Norma Shearer and Mary Pickford- and was the official photographer of the Ziegfield Follies.

He had the special talent of using cleverly fascinating materials like shawls, evening gowns, wraps, satin, velvet and all kinds of drapery. His photographs are loaded with glamour, elegance, mystery and sensuality.

Alfred Cheney Johnston had a very lucrative career with the Follies until the stock market crash of 1929. Ziegfeld lost all of his money and later died in 1932 as a result of the strain. Johnston continued to work commercially in NYC, but his photographic style fell out of fashion.

In the 1960's, he attempted to donate his entire studio and his photographic work to various organizations in NYC and Washington DC but no one was interested or able to store it.

Luckily, nowadays he is considered one of the best photographers of these days, and the thousands of portraits he took from a faded era which had made him famous, still look fresh and awesome.