George Edward Hurrell Analysis

George Edward Hurrell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 1, 1904. “As long as I can remember I wanted to be an artist. As a boy, I was drawing all the time, in school and out. Art was my favorite class in high school.” (George Hurrell, Par. 2). After graduating high school, Hurrell enrolled at the Chicago Art Institute, and also going to night classes at the Academy of Fine Arts studying painting. He became familiar with camera's during his time at the art schools, because students would photograph their subject to use as reference while painting. In 1925, famous landscape painter, Edgar Alwyn, an alum of the Art Institute, gave a lecture at Hurrell's school. Afterwards, Payne looked at student's work, and was very impressed with Hurrell's experimental painting styles. Payne said to George, “If you plan to be
The first one is of Dorothy Jordan, and is untitled. I think Jordan's position was very creative of Hurrell to present. Leaning into the photo is very flattering, and helps emphasize her already in focused face. In most portraits, the model is looking at the camera, however, in this photograph, Jordan is looking away. Her expression is also vague, and gives the viewers a sense of wonder about what she's looking or thinking about. I also love the Short Light Technique Hurrell used. It's very climactical, and it's more slimming to the face.

The second photo I'm going to analyze is of Jean Harlow, and is also untitled. I love how different this photo is, compared to the one of Dorothy Jordan, all because of the way the models are introduced to the audience. In this photograph, Harlow is leaning back, with her hand resting on her head, which helps frame the models face. Hurrell used similar lighting in this photo, as the one of Jordan, illuminating one side of the subject's face. However, in this photo the mood is different. The pose is more elegant, and the model giving off a friendlier