Unknown

This is an image done for "The Legendary" Illustration challenge" Utopia.

*full view recommended*

The image of the girl was taken by: Alfred Cheney Johnston who was Ziegfelds official photographer for the Follies.More info Here

Though there were many images to choose from …this “unknown” from the Zieglfeld girls caught my eye.
The other Ziegfied girls seemed to be at ease in the way they posed in front of the camera,except her.She had a certain air of shyness and uncertainty about her which set her aside from the rest.Who was she and what she thinking….??


“The Ziegfeld Follies dominated the American theatrical revue scene from 1907 until the late 1920s and early 1930s when the popularity of vaudeville began to diminish. Featuring scores of women.

He adored women and had numerous affairs with his employees, but he also viewed them as art objects to sculpt and perfect. He wrote newspaper columns outlining his specifications for the perfect female figure. In the mid-1920s he declared the tall statuesque look "out" and the shorter, more vivacious figure "in." His aim was to create a fantasy world of radiant women with perfect figures whose beauty and allure transcended anything any spectator could have ever before witnessed.

Ziegfeld Girls were precursors to movie stars, both figuratively and literally. Before them, chorus girls were anonymous, everyday women. After Ziegfeld promoted them, they became celebrities, and many of them then went on to become famous film stars.

Other Ziegfeld girls, however, were dogged by tragedy. One poisoned herself, one committed suicide by jumping from a window, one died of heart failure at an early age, and others died penniless and alone. However, not all Ziegfeld girls had sad ends.
The Ziegfeld girl was beautiful in both face and form. As conceived by Florenz Ziegfeld, the "glorifier of the American girl," they were displayed to their audiences in scanty costumes, sometimes nude.
. For many, the Follies were the opening for film careers, including Mae Murray, Marion Davies, Louise Brooks, and many others. Many retired from the stage for marriage and family.”


Slight restoration,..coloured and all the other business added…….sadness of the image influenced by the sadness in her eyes…..

Main image of anonymous Ziegfeld girl curtesy of…of Dr Macros
Original here Here

Swirl brushes anodyne-stock
Rose from Snurg
Flower in window spiritsighs
Window Morguefile
Textures..additional flowers,cloudz and butterflies are my own..