Harlow by Irving Chidnoff, c. 1931

I found myself writing way too much about these portraits to keep it within the character limit of social media — so here I am. Today I thumbed through several Harlow photos, as I do every day, and noticed I’ve never really paid special attention to the work of photographer Irving Chidnoff. His portraits of Jean are very unique; soulful, straightforward, and easily identifiable. Being based in New York, Chidnoff’s only sittings with Jean took place when she visited the city early in her career. She was there quite frequently on Howard Hughes-backed promotion excursions for Hell’s Angels (1930) after its release in May.

As a consequence of constant, publicized travel up until her 1932 MGM contract, many famous photographers sought to book the “platinum blonde” for a sitting when she was in town. Harlow lent her visage to a large sampling of Eastern photo studios during this time; including but limited to Pach Brothers, White Studios, Charles Gates Sheldon, Herbert Mitchell, and of course, Irving Chidnoff.⁣⁣

In fact, I’m not even sure if they had more than one sitting — MGM’s dated negatives are a perfectionist’s dream, but most local studios had no such system, since they weren’t solely meant meant for studio publicity. One sitting with a photographer like Chidnoff could produce dozens of outfit changes and hundreds of outtakes, such is the case with Preston Duncan’s portraits of Jean. Either way, Chidnoff took a handful of Harlow portraits.

Whether these were all taken on the same day or not is a mystery for now. One of the following Chidnoff portraits has a stamped date of May 12, 1931, when Culver Pictures published it. This publication stamp signifies the portraits date from a short time before, up to a few months. Exact dating for these photos proves nearly impossible, as Jean was in the midst of crazy scheduling courtesy of Howard Hughes. She was in New York in August 1930, again that fall after a visit to Kansas City, and for a third time in early 1931 after completing The Secret Six. So, I’ll go ahead and confidently place these portraits in late 1930, or early 1931. Enough speculation, and onto the viewing!

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Chidnoff’s portraits were not primarily known for their glamour, as he chose to focus on the “soul” of his subjects; a sentiment that eventually led him to work with the legitimate stage. We can see that here, portrayed in the playfulness in Jean’s eyes and her relaxed posture. I especially love the art deco props Jean is placed against — the curving lines make a great backdrop for a bias-cut dress.

Two of these portraits were featured in Hollywood movie magazines, giving Jean a healthy amount of publicity.

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Chidnoff liked to rearrange and reuse his backdrops, making these portraits quite similar to a few shots he took of Marlene Dietrich in 1930:

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Just months after this sitting with Jean, in June 1931, Chidnoff voiced some of his opinions in an artist’s debate over the beauty of women; unsurprisingly, all voices were male, but his particular beliefs were refreshing. This excerpt comes directly from Irving Chidnoff’s biography on the great Broadway Photographs website:

“Early in June 1931 Irving Chidnoff engaged in a widely published debate with John Held and Rolf Armstrong on the visual character of beauty in women. While Held and Armstrong championed the ideals of photogenic glamour as projected by Hollywood and embodied in the images of Greta Garbo and Evelyn Brent, Chidnoff demurred, “An exquisite face and a perfect figure mean nothing at all to me, if the spark of personality is lacking.” He confessed that he sought in a sitter a soul more than an image, desiring to see “the brain which shines through the eyes and the character that is revealed by the poise of the head.”

I do wonder what he thought of Jean; other photographers revered her not only for her kindness and sincerity, but for her effortless modelling and lack of inhibition about her body. She had the ability to view herself objectively as an art form, like the people she sat for. I have a feeling Chidnoff, too, saw these qualities in Jean as he was able to capture them in his work.

On a closing note, here’s an advertisement for Irving Chidnoff Studios from The Film Daily, November 1935. I wonder if any bookings came out of it: