Vintage | MONOVISIONS - Black & White Photography Magazine

Vintage: New York’s original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1903)

18 November 2019 0

The original Waldorf-Astoria was among America’s first big hotels. When it was built during the Victorian era, and for years thereafter, it was considered the finest hotel in the world — and it soon became the most famous, for its…

Vintage: America by Jack Delano (1940s)

12 November 2019 0

After graduating from the PAFA, Delano proposed a photographic project to the Federal Art Project: a study of mining conditions in the Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania anthracite coal area. Delano sent sample pictures to Roy Stryker and applied for a job…

Vintage: Shropshire Shop Fronts by Joseph Lewis della-Porta (1888)

8 November 2019 0

Joseph (Lewis) Della Porta was from a family of shopkeepers. His father, also called Joseph, was an immigrant from Northern Italy. He settled in Shrewsbury in about 1848 and established a small shop on Princess Street. The business prospered and…

Vintage: Portraits of Pola Negri – Silent Movie Star

4 November 2019 0

Pola Negri (1897 – 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles. Raised in the Congress Kingdom of…

Vintage: Hollywood actress Ella Raines (1940s)

30 October 2019 0

Ella Raines (1920 – 1988) was an American film and television actress. Ella Raines studied drama at the University of Washington and was appearing in a play there when she was seen by director Howard Hawks. She became the first…

Vintage: Alaska (1896 – 1899)

18 October 2019 0

Various scenes in Alaska in such areas as Devil’s Lake, Skagway, Miles Canon, Chilcoot Pass, Lake Bennet, and Sitka by an unidentified amateur, taken between 1896 and 1899, and held by the DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.

Vintage: Marlon Brando as Mark Antony in ‘Julius Caesar’ (1953)

14 October 2019 0

Marlon Brando’s casting was met with some skepticism when it was announced, as he had acquired the nickname of “The Mumbler” following his performance in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz even considered Paul Scofield for the…

Vintage: Portraits of Vilma Bánky – Silent Movie Star

4 October 2019 0

Vilma Bánky (1901 – 1991) was a Hungarian-born American silent film actress, although the early part of her acting career began in Budapest. Her first film appearance was in the now lost film, Im Letzten Augenblick (In the last moment),…

Vintage: Portraits of Vietnamese People by Émile Gsell (1880s)

22 September 2019 0

Émile Gsell was born in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, Haut-Rhin, France on 31 December 1838. He served in the military from 1858 to 1866, during which time he learned photography and travelled to Cochin China (now Southern Vietnam). In Cochin China, Gsell was…

Vintage: Lady Dancing With Skeleton by Franz Fiedler (1923)

20 September 2019 0

Franz Fiedler (1885 – 1956) was a German photographer. Fiedler was born in Prostějov, near Olomouc in Moravia. Fiedler was a pupil of Hugo Erfurth. He was regarded as an eccentric during his apprenticeship in Pilsen, and worked in 1905…

Vintage: Midwest (1910s) Glass photo negatives

16 September 2019 0

Collection of antique glass plate negatives found by William Creswell. Most of these supposedly date from around 1913 and originate in the Midwest. At least one clue places these images in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area.

Vintage: Our Modern Maidens (1929)

14 September 2019 0

Our Modern Maidens is a 1929 American silent drama film directed by Jack Conway. Starring Joan Crawford in her last silent film role, the film also stars Rod La Rocque, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., and Anita Page. Heiress Billie Brown (Crawford),…

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Holy Land, Syria (19th Century)

10 September 2019 0

In 1516, the Ottoman Empire invaded the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, conquering Syria, and incorporating it into its empire. The Ottoman system was not burdensome to Syrians because the Turks respected Arabic as the language of the Quran, and accepted…

Vintage: Portraits of Norma Shearer – Silent Movie Star

4 September 2019 0

Norma Shearer (1902 – 1983) was a Canadian-American actress and Hollywood star. Shearer appeared in a few silent movies, but her time in Hollywood coincided with the transition from silent films to sound. She took the lead in MGM’s second…

Vintage: Paris by Émile Zola (1900s)

26 August 2019 0

Émile Zola (1840 – 1902) was a French novelist, playwright, journalist, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of…