Ruth Harriet Louise (born Ruth Goldstein, January 13, 1903 – October 12, 1940) was an American photographer. She was the first woman photographer active in Hollywood, and she ran Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's portrait studio from 1925 to 1930.

[1][2]

Ruth Harriet Louise
Ruth Harriet Louise (self-portrait)
Born	Ruth Goldstein (1903-01-13)January 13, 1903 New York City, U.S.
Died	October 12, 1940(1940-10-12) (aged 37) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Home of Peace Cemetery
Nationality	American
Known for	Photography
Spouse	Leigh Jason ​ (m. 1930)​
Children	1
Relatives	Mark Sandrich (brother) Jay Sandrich (nephew) Carmel Myers (cousin)

Early life and career

Ruth Harriet Louise was born Ruth Goldstein in New York City and raised in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She was the daughter of Klara Jacobson Sandrich Goldstein, who was born in Rajec, Hungary (present-day Slovakia) and Jacob Goldstein, who was a rabbi originally from England.[3] Her brother was director Mark Sandrich, and she was a cousin of silent film actress Carmel Myers.

Louise began working as a portrait photographer in 1922, working out of a music store down the block from the New Brunswick temple at which her father was a rabbi.[3][4] Most of her photographs from this period are of family members and members of her father's temple congregation.

In 1925 she moved to Los Angeles and set up a small photo studio on Hollywood and Vine.[3] Louise's first published Hollywood photo was of Vilma Banky in costume for Dark Angel, and appeared in Photoplay magazine in September 1925.[3] When Louise was hired by MGM as chief portrait photographer, she was twenty-two years old, and the only woman working as a portrait photographer for the Hollywood studios.[5] 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 (Louise was one of only seven photographers permitted to make portraits of her),[3] Lon Chaney, John Gilbert, Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Anna May Wong, Nina Mae McKinney, 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.

In addition to paying close attention to costume and setting for studio photographs, Louise also incorporated aspects of modernist movements such as Cubism, futurism, and German expressionism into her studio portraits.[3] Even though during this time photographers would not get full recognition of their work, Ruth would stamp the back of each photograph that was printed with her full name. A female photographer in a highly dominated male industry, she made sure that her work was acknowledged. During her career she also made sure to look for other woman to work with her when the opportunity came up. Her role was always to help females stand out and support one another in an era where not many women where seen working in traditionally male fields. Ruth was a photographer who cared for her models and would help them ease the tension when they had photoshoots. Everyone who worked with her admired her.

Personal life and death

Louise married writer and director Leigh Jason in 1927 at Temple B'nai B'rith, with William Wyler as Jason's best man.[3] Although in 1930 her contract with MGM was not renewed and the position of chief portrait photographer went to George Hurrell, Louise continued working through 1932, and her last recorded photo session was with actress Anna Sten.[3] That same year, she gave birth to a son, Leigh Jr., who died of leukemia when he was six years old. In 1938, Louise's occupation was listed as "housewife" and she was registered as a Democrat.[6] Louise died, along with her second son, in 1940 of complications from childbirth, and she was buried with her son Leigh at Home of Peace Cemetery.

Further reading

• Dance, R.; Robertson, B.: Ruth Harriet Louise and Hollywood Glamour Photography, Univ. of California Press 2002; ISBN 0-520-23347-6.
• Kobal, John. Hollywood Glamor Portraits: 145 Photos of Stars, 1926-1949. Courier Corporation, 1976. ISBN 9780486233529.
• Vieira, Mark A. George Hurrell's Hollywood: Glamour Portraits 1925-1992. Running Press, 2013. ISBN 9780762450398.

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ruth Harriet Louise.

• The Ruth Harriet Louise Collection
• Ruth Harriet Louise on Flickr.
• Greta Garbo and Louise: When they met... Archived 2007-07-10 at the Wayback Machine
• Greta Garbo photographs by Ruth Harriet Louise.
• Ruth Harriet Louise at Find a Grave

На других языках

[fr] Ruth Harriet Louise