JOHN GILBERT

Original U.S. 10 inch x 8 inch Portrait of JOHN GILBERT.

Portrait by Hollywood Portrait Photographer Ruth Harriet Louise (1903 – 1940) with her stamp embossed in the bottom border and ink stamped on the reverse.

When Ruth Harriet Louise was hired by M.G.M. as chief portrait photographer in the summer of 1925, she was twenty-two years old, and the only woman working as a portrait photographer for the Hollywood studios. In a career that lasted only five years, Louise photographed all the stars, contract players, and many of the hopefuls who passed through the studio’s front gates, including Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, and Norma Shearer. It is estimated that she took more than 100,000 photos during her tenure at MGM. Today she is considered an equal with George Hurrell Sr. and other renowned glamour photographers of the era.

The portrait, on double weight paper, is in very good condition with some surface marks.