George Hurrell's Photography

While his timeless photographs are key artifacts in Hollywood history, many people do not know the man responsible for creating one of the most iconic lighting techniques in the world of photography. George Hurrell’s knack for photographing prominent figures in the early 1900’s led their fame to overpower his. This leads many people to seek out his photographs simply because of the stars in the pictures, not because it is his work. Born to an English family of successful shoemakers on June 1, 1904 in Cincinnati Ohio, Hurrell was not expected to become a photographer. He grew up in a Catholic family with four brothers and one sister. Much like his brothers and sisters who also pursued careers in religion, Hurrell initially signed up to become
a priest at the Quigley Seminary in Chicago. However, he decided to pursue a career in art and enrolled at the Chicago Art Institute following his high school graduation. Hurrell went on to take night classes at the Academy of Fine Arts studying painting. During his time in art school, Hurrell had to continuously take photographs to use as references for his paintings. It was during the taking of these landscape photographs that he became well equipped with a camera. In the spring of 1925, famous landscape painter Edgar Alwyn Payne came to the Art Institute to give a lecture. While he was there he viewed the students work, taking an extra interest in Hurrell’s experimental painting style. Payne invited Hurrell to return to his home at Laguna Beach believing that it was the prime spot for Hurrell to advance his work. Wishing to succeed, Hurrell eagerly agreed to the journey. Laguna beach was just the beginning for Hurrell’s incredibly successful artistic career. His achievements grew more and more every year until his death on May 17, 1992 in Los Angeles California. Laguna Beach was indeed a great place for Hurrell to advance his painting career and he did just that. After arriving to the famed location in mid 1925, he continued painting the beautiful landscapes found in the area along with taking up various leisure activities.
Most importantly he began experimenting with photography. It was not until 1928 that he landed his first real photography job. Florence Leontine “Pancho” Barnes, whom he had met at Edgar Alwyn Payne’s family Christmas dinner in 1925 was Hurrell’s first model. The two had become good friends after meeting shortly after his arrival at Laguna Beach and often enjoyed partying and fishing together. Barnes had decided that she wanted to be a pilot, which was incredibly rare at the time. Orville Wright had a reputation for disregarding women as pilots and not signing off on their applications. In attempt to throw Orville off Barnes asked Hurrell to photograph her as a man. After taking the photos he felt bad for making her look so poor and begged her to let him retake them, this time with her looking like a proper lady. Barnes used these photos for her application and became a pilot, eventually becoming the first female Hollywood stunt pilot, set numerous speed records, and was Lockheed’s first female test pilot. It was these very
photographs that led Hurrell into a successful career in photography. Shortly after that Ramon Navarro, the most prominent actor at the time and one of Barnes’s best friends was in great need of an unknown photographer. Navarro, a man with Mexican Heritage feared his slight accent would put him at a disadvantage when it came to the new coming sound films. Because of this fear he decided to try and become an opera singer in Europe. Upon deciding this he realized he should get new publicity photos. However, he feared the company he worked for, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), would hear of this and jeopardize his new salary negotiations. Therefor Barnes encouraged him to use Hurrell as his photographer. Hurrell photographed Navarro alongside a horse in 1929. After these photographs were taken Navarro discovered that his negotiations were indeed successful and was able to remain with MGM. However, Hurrell’s photographs did not go to waste. The series of photos were featured in the Los Angeles Times and were later shown to another MGM actress Norma Shearer who instantly sought Hurrell out for a specific task. She wished to change up her “girl next door” reputation in order to get a roll in a new film titled The Divorcee. For this film she would have to play a “sexy” modern woman. However, upon showing her husband, who happened to be the head of production at MGM, told her he did not think she was “sexy” enough for the roll. Not sure what to do Shearer recalled how Hurrell had made Navarro appear “sexy” in his photographs. She eventually had Hurrell photograph her leading her husband to agree she was “sexy” enough for the film and landing her the role. She later went on to win and Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the film. The work done for Navarro and Shearer led Hurrell to receive a job offer from MGM. While hesitant at first, he eventually took the job shortly after the stock market crashed marking the start of the Great Depression. It was during his time with MGM that Hurrell developed his iconic portrait photography style known as “Hurrell Style” and invented the boom light. The boom light was used to create his iconic lighting style. Before his developments Hollywood celebrity portraiture was full of generic studio settings and standard lighting placement. After his developments Hollywood stars were photographed in a new, glamorous way that is responsible for some of the most famous portraits in Hollywood history. Once leaving MGM in 1932, he eventually went on to work for multiple film production companies. Throughout his career he explored various projects including nude photography for Pleasure Magazine and Playboy along with other portraits for magazines and film production. At the start of WWII in November 1942 he is drafted but with the help of Barnes he is placed in the First Motion Picture Unit of the US Army Air Force Unit. After marrying Walt Disney’s niece Phyllis Bounds (his second marriage), Hurrell founded his own television production studio known as Hurrell Productions. This studio operated until 1960, six years after divorcing Phyllis. His style unfortunately went out of style after WWII but eventually returned in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. During this time he photographed for films like “Planet of the Apes” and “All the Presidents Men”. However, Hurrell felt that the glamour he created using 8x10 portrait cameras was lost when photographers began using the modernized 35mm cameras. After this time he begins auctioning of some of his works while others are featured in museums and art shows. His success as a photographer earned him a documentary about his life and career. This documentary titled “Legends In Light” was produced in 1991, just before his death on May 17, 1992 due to bladder cancer. Today, George Hurrell is known as the father of Hollywood glamour.
Without his innovative thinking and creative mind, most of history’s most iconic figures would not have been represented and remembered in the same light as they are. Florence “Pancho” Barnes may have never become a pilot, Roman Navarro may have ended his acting career, and Norma Shearer would have never won an Academy Award. Stars like Veronica Lake, Betty Garble Gruff, Marlene Detrich, Humphrey Bogart, and hundreds of others have had their careers forever preserved with his incredible photography. Today, photographers use the modern adaption of the boom light in all types of photography. While the Hurrell Style is not popular today it will forever be a timeless classic and will always make its appearance throughout time. As an aspiring photographer George Hurrell’s style of photography clearly represents what traditional portraiture means to me. His photography also represents the light in a time of darkness as his career was in full swing during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. He did not photograph those tragic times in history but instead kept focus on the positive things occurring in the country. Despite his fame often being overpowered by the stars he photographed, George Hurrell is in fact one of the most well-known and prominent figures in the history of
photography.