Vintage | MONOVISIONS - Black & White Photography Magazine

Vintage: Queen Christina (1933)

14 July 2019 0

Queen Christina is a pre-Code Hollywood biographical film, produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1933. It stars Swedish-born actress Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in their fourth and last film together. The film was directed by Rouben Mamoulian in 1933, and written…

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Benares (Varanasi), India (1890s)

10 July 2019 0

The Kingdom of Benares was given official status by the Mughals in 1737, and continued as a dynasty-governed area until Indian independence in 1947, during the reign of Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh. In the 18th century, Muhammad Shah ordered the…

Vintage: Portraits of Betty Compson – Silent Movie Star

5 July 2019 0

Betty Compson (1897 – 1974) was an American actress most famous in silent films and early talkies. Playing in vaudeville sketches with touring circuits, Compson got noticed by Hollywood producers. While touring, she was discovered by comedic producer Al Christie…

Vintage: Portraits by James Abbe (1920s)

17 June 2019 0

James Abbe (1883 – 1973) was an American photographer. His career as international photographer was first boosted by the Washington Post, which commissioned him to travel and take photographs of a 16-day voyage with the American battleship fleet to England…

Vintage: Thylacine, Tasmanian tiger (1930s)

14 June 2019 0

The thylacine, now extinct, is one of the largest known carnivorous marsupials, evolving about 4 million years ago. The last known live animal was captured in 1933 in Tasmania. It is commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger because of its…

Vintage: Portrait Photos of the Dare Sisters: Phyllis and Zena (early 20th Century)

12 June 2019 0

Two of the most stunning and popular actresses of Edwardian England were the sisters Dare, Phyllis and Zena, who for decades delighted audiences in London’s West End and on tour. At the height of their fame, their likenesses graced hundreds…

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Bombay, India (1890s)

10 June 2019 0

From 1782 onwards, the city was reshaped with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands of Bombay into a single amalgamated mass by way of a causeway called the Hornby Vellard, which was completed by 1784.…

Vintage: Portraits of Blanche Sweet – Silent Movie Star

5 June 2019 0

Blanche Sweet (1896 – 1986) was an American silent film actress who began her career in the earliest days of the Hollywood motion picture film industry. Sweet was known for her energetic, independent roles, at variance with the ‘ideal’ Griffith…

Vintage: Glass Plate Negatives of Norfolk, Virginia (1919)

2 June 2019 0

In the 1980’s 46 glass plate negatives were found in the attic of a Norfolk home. The plates measured 8.5” x 6.5”. Through the generous support of the Norfolk Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Old Dominion University, and Colorcraft…

Vintage: Greece (late 19th Ccentury)

28 May 2019 0

Greece remained a very poor country throughout the 19th century. The country lacked raw materials, infrastructure and capital. Agriculture was mostly at the subsistence level, and the only important export commodities were currants, raisins and tobacco. Some Greeks grew rich…

Vintage: Portraits of Geraldine Farrar (1910s)

26 May 2019 0

Geraldine Farrar (1882- 1967) was an American soprano opera singer and film actress. Farrar was born in Melrose, Massachusetts, the daughter of baseball player Sidney Farrar, and his wife Henrietta Barnes. At age 5, she began studying music in Boston…

Vintage: Vietnamese Lunar New Year – Tet Holiday (1920s)

20 May 2019 0

Vietnamese Lunar New Year or Tet Holiday, is the most important celebration in Vietnamese culture. Vietnamese people usually return to their families during Tết. Some return to worship at the family altar or visit the graves of their ancestors in…

Vintage: Douglas County, Colorado (19th Century)

16 May 2019 0

Douglas County was one of the original 17 counties created in the Colorado Territory by the Colorado Territorial Legislature on November 1, 1861. The county was named in honor of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who died five…

Vintage: Nazi Propaganda Film Director Leni Riefenstahl (1930s)

14 May 2019 0

Leni Riefenstahl (1902 – 2003) was a German film director. Riefenstahl heard Nazi Party (NSDAP) leader Adolf Hitler speak at a rally in 1932 and was mesmerized by his talent as a public speaker. Describing the experience in her memoir,…

Vintage: Broken Blossoms (1919)

12 May 2019 0

Broken Blossoms is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by D.W. Griffith. Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) leaves his native China because he “dreams to spread the gentle message of Buddha to the Anglo-Saxon lands.” His idealism fades as he…

Vintage: Historic B&W photos of Delhi, India (1890s)

10 May 2019 0

In 1757, the Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Durrani, sacked Delhi. He returned to Afghanistan leaving a Mughal puppet ruler in nominal control. The Marathas again occupied Delhi in 1758, and were in control until their defeat in 1761 at the…

Vintage: Portraits of Colleen Moore – Silent Movie Star

5 May 2019 0

Colleen Moore (1899 – 1988) was an American film actress who began her career during the silent film era. At age 15 she was taking her first step in Hollywood. Her uncle arranged a screen test with director D.W. Griffith.…

Vintage: The Last Laugh (1924)

27 April 2019 0

The Last Laugh is a 1924 German silent film directed by German director F. W. Murnau. Jannings’ character is a doorman for a famous hotel, who takes great pride in his work and position. His manager decides that the doorman…

Vintage: Sherlock Jr. (1924)

20 April 2019 0

Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton. A movie theater projectionist and janitor (Buster Keaton) is in love with a beautiful girl (Kathryn McGuire). However, he has a rival, the “local sheik”…

Vintage: Greed (1924)

14 April 2019 0

Greed is a 1924 American silent film, written and directed by Erich von Stroheim and based on the 1899 Frank Norris novel McTeague. John McTeague is a miner working in Placer County, California. A traveling dentist calling himself Dr. “Painless”…

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