Alfred Cheney Johnston's Studio
he New York Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston shot portraits for some time when Florenz Ziegfeld jr paid attention to him and promoted him 1916 to become the official photographer of his famous Ziegfeld Follies.
Florenz Ziegfeld sold his shows as "glorification of the American Girl" and Alfred Cheney Johnston's photographs should capture this vision. Johnston's portraits of the Ziegfeld Girls become world famous. They created the Ziegfeld Girls as beauty ideals of the roaring twenties for the young generation in Amerika. Appr. 25.000 girls he shot from 1917 to 1931. These photos were considered in that time as sexy, nowadays they are regarded as subtle erotic.
His requisites are gobelins, flowing fabrics, endless strings of pearls and lot of chiffon to drape effectively. He was the master of covering the body, but let him appear more naked. And besides all the loose draped fabrics became ohne of his hallmarks.
Johnston made a remarkable career with the Ziegfeld Follies, when 1929 the Great Depression brings all through to the end. The Follies closed down, Ziegfeld lost all his money and died 1932 resulting from the depression. Johnston tried to continue working in New York for a while, but never regain his former creativity. He moved to Vermont, working unluckily as a local photographer and died 1971 lonely and forgotten.
Then in the last years he was rediscovered by collectors and photographers. Today the beauty in his work and the depth of his creativity is worl recognised.
Downloads: