Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The Magnificence of Madame Yevonde

Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.  Even though the word "ye vonde" is visible in the right bottom corner of the image of the stunning gal in the red dress now appearing in my blog header, it was only after reading an article about 1930s fine art photographer Madame Yevonde in the first issue of the vintage magazine, Zelda, that I realized this image is an example of Yevonde's work!  In fact, it's from 1930 and it's called "A Fashion Study." A little more web research has yielded some more stunning glimpses at her work, including some portraiture, some commercial pieces, and some images which were part of a 1935 series she called The Goddesses collection (this series involved Yevonde having various 1930s socialites dress up as ancient mythological characters, like Helen of Troy, as shown in the bottom image). I did my MA about Victorian art photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and I'm noticing some really interesting parallels and lines of influence between Cameron's oeuvre and Yevonde's work, especially the Goddesses (maybe one day I'll even write an article about this).  Anyway, for more on  amazingly talented deco photographer, Madame Yevonde, including an explanation of the VIVEX color process responsible for the stunning hues apparent in her images, THIS site is worth checking out.

Untitled, Woman on Couch, 1933

Portrait of Unidentified Woman, 1937


Portrait of the Racing Driver Jill Thomas, 1938

Mrs. Charles Sweeny (Margaret, Duchess of Argyll) as Helen of Troy, 1935






12 comments:

Tilly said...

Wow. I'm lost for words. These pictures are incredible.

Ooh yes, please write an article about it and share it with us!

Miss Matilda said...

the infamous duchess

Flapper Flickers + Silent Stanzas said...

WOW. That first one especially!

Diva said...

Beautiful images and great to see a female photographer. Thanks for the comment on my dress for my cousins wedding. I didnt want to upstage her so I went with my mint dress which turned out great!

Dear Baronessa send me an email with your adress. I have a wee present(nothing fancy) for you. Kindly D

Francy said...

Ohmygosh, these are so beautiful. I am with Avalon76. I am in love with the first one, and also the Jill Thomas portrait.

Andrea said...

I love these pictures! I was a big fan of Julia Margaret Cameron too back in my Art History days. Hadn't heard of Madame Yevonde so thanks for posting these.

Stefanie Valentine said...

Wow those pictures are beautiful, I could stare at them all day.

Lolita Haze said...

I am in love with the first photo!

Andi B. Goode said...

Ohhh, my. These are AMAZING. Thanks so much for sharing. This is what I wanted my photos to look like. The colour!! Sigh.
-Andi x

Yesterday Girl said...

This is so weird. I read this post last night, then today I was doing my volunteering at the Imperial War Museum and the person who owns the whole of Madame Yevonde's collection phoned and asked if the Museum would like part of the collection! I hadn't even heard of her until I read this yesterday. Bizarre. I thought of you straight away naturally.xox

Unknown said...

INcredible.

BaronessVonVintage said...

Yesterday Girl: WOW. What a serendipitous turn of events, indeed!

I really want to learn more about the Madame now. I also want to see more of her work! Glad you enjoyed these too, everyone!

Lolita: the first is my favourite too!

Andi: that's cool! I WISH I had studied more art history back in uni! Madame Yevonde DEFINITELY should be added to the curricula!