dorothy wilding

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dorothy wilding was a photographer taking portraiture of royalty, celebrities and high society. sometimes portraits are so dull - but through the lens of such artists like dorothy or athol shmith for example, their subjects seem irresistably incandescent. i especially love portraiture from the early 20th century, their clothes and jewellery are a decadent feast! and were all ladies then so beautiful and elegant? they appear almost luminous in their photos.

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these remind me of an opera night passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Beautiful and Damned' -

" There were opera-cloaks stitched of myriad, many-coloured silks and furs; there were jewels dripping from arms and throats and ear-tips of white and rose; there were innumerable broad shimmers down the middles of innumerable silk hats; there were shoes of gold and bronze and red and shining black; there were the high-piled, tight-packed coiffures of many women and the slick, watered hair of well-kept men - most of all there was the ebbing, flowing, chattering, chuckling, foaming, slow-rolling wave effect of this cheerful sea of people as tonight it poured its glittering torrent into the artificial lake of laughter...."
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api, npg, modernisminc, georgeglazer

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