Rare Risqué Jean Harlow Edwin Bower Hesser Vintage 1929 Pictorialist Photograph
Item History & Price
| Reference Number: Avaluer:753848 | Size: 4" x 5" |
| Model: Jean Harlow | Country/Region of Manufacture: United States |
| Subject: Nudes | Photographer: Edwin Bower Hesser |
Thanks to all our eBay bidders! We are honored to be your one-stop, 5-star source for vintage pin up, pulp magazines, original illustration art, decorative collectibles and ephemera with a wide and always changing assortment of antique and vintage items from the Victorian, Art Nouveau, Art Deco; Mid-Century Modern eras. All items are 100% guaranteed to be original, vintage, and as described. Please feel free to contact us with any and all questions about the items and our poli...cies and please take a moment to peruse our other great eBay listings. All sell no reserve!
ITEM: A very rare original first generation gelatin silver sepia antique photograph of the young and nude artfully posed film legend Jean Harlow as a contemplative woodland nymph sprite from her infamous 1929 romp in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. This was a frequent location for nude photo shoots by Edwin Bower Hesser who took this photograph and used it and hundreds of others in his 1920s - early 30s Art Studies Photo Periodicals. Harlow was an unknown model at this time (much like Norma Jean in her pre - Marilyn Monroe Blue Book model agency pin-up model days) and the following year her career took off on a tragically short trajectory as she appeared in the Howard Hughes feature film "Hell's Angels".
This photo shoot has been documented in the April 1966 edition of Playboy Magazine which ran an article on Hesser and this photo shoot with the young Jean Harlow specifically, I included scans of this photo pictorial spread in Playboy at the bottom of this listing for your reference below, however the magazine is not included in this auction but is readily available on ebay.
About 15 years ago a collection of these original stills including this one were found in an east coast estate in a former employee of Edwin Bower Hesser's magazine publishing company. This is from that estate find and the photograph is 100% guaranteed an original first generation Edwin Bower Hesser photograph and the model is guaranteed to be Jean Harlow in a very revealing pose. This is the original document -- not a reprint of any kind.
Measures approx. 4" x 5" on a semi-gloss single weight paper stock.
CONDITION: Fine condition with light storage/handling wear this appears to be perhaps a little underdeveloped as created in the late 1920s.
****************
BELOW ARE A FEW SCANS FROM THE PLAYBOY MAGAZINE ARTICLE REFERENCED ABOVE IN OUR LISTING - THE APRIL 1966 EDITION SHOWING THIS PHOTO SHOOT AND SIMILAR POSES OF THE YOUNG NUDE JEAN HARLOW -- THESE ARE FOR REFERENCE, ENJOY ~
00578
