RED HEAD GAL GORDON CONWAY FASHION & DESIGNS 1916-1936 EXHIBITION CATALOG 1980

Description: David Schaff THAT RED HEAD GAL Fashions Designs of Gordon Conway 1916-1936 ART. Here is a rare exhibition catalog from 1980-1981 from the exhibit THAT RED HEAD GAL - FASHIONS AND DESIGNS OF GORDON CONWAY 1916-1936. The exhibition was sponsored by the American Institute of Architects Foundation. David Schaff (author) / Gordon Conway / American Institute of Architects Foundation / Sponsored By Philip Morris Inc and Virginia Slims (cigarettes) / Dallas Historical Society / Chicago Historical Society / Los Angeles County Museum of Art; exhibition Locations. Book 1: That Red Head Gal : Fashions And Designs of Gordon Conway 1916 to 1936. The catalog measures 7" x 11" and has 47 pages of information and illustrations (see photos), with text by David Schaff. There is some age / storage-related wear to the cover, most noticeable near the spine. Interior is unmarked in excellent, near-mint condition. Both Color and B&W Illustrations. An American Institute of Architects Foundation Exhibition Catalog, Retrospective of Conway's Work, History, Biography, Illustrated, 1980 edition. Book 2: "That Red Head Gal, Fashions and Designs of Gordon Conway1916-1936 BOOKLET (EXHIBITION PROMOTIONAL PIECE). 1980. 8 pages, 8.5" x 6", soft cover (stapled in wraps). B&W illustrations. A promotional piece put out to coincide with the exhibition organized by the American Institute of Architects Foundation. Gives a very brief biography of Gordon Conway and a checklist of the exhibits. Both Art books are in Very Good Vintage Condition. Interior Clean and Unmarked. Comes from a Smoke Free Home Free Shipping. About: CONWAY, GORDON (1894–1956)…. During a brief but prolific twenty-two-year career (1915–37), Gordon Conway won international acclaim in the fields of commercial graphic art and costume design for stage and film in New York, London, and Paris. She made around 5,000 finished drawings, including illustrations for at least 26 publications and 33 advertising clients. With assignments ranging from one to 80 costumes per show, she designed graphics and costumes for at least 119 stage productions for both theater and cabaret. She costumed 47 films. Conway helped democratize Parisian haute couture and popularize the severe elements of modern design. Starting out during the golden age of American illustration, she was a self-taught, free-lance artist who worked without apprentices and models. A significant but often overlooked aspect of her career-and rare for women of the era-was Conway's ability to create a popular public persona, which expanded her network of clients. She was in the vanguard of the new business enterprises of advertising and public relations at the beginning of the twentieth century. Between 1922 and 1928 she produced such cabaret art as her coordinated concept for costumes, sets, and graphics for the Club Daunou Midnight Follies in Paris, and occasional designs for the Casino de Paris. On the forefront of the London cabaret craze, she created costumes and graphics for most editions of Carl Hyson's Midnight Follies at London's Hotel Metropole and other venues. As the major designer for British cabaret legend Percy Athos, Conway made some of her most exotic and erotic costumes and sparkling graphic designs as part of her unified design scheme for his New Princes' Frivolities. London theater commissions expanded between 1921 and 1931 with stage producers Charles B. Cochran, Dion Titheradge, Bertie A. Meyer, Albert de Courville, and such transatlantic talent as Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse, and for megastars the Dolly Sisters. She costumed mid-1920s Broadway musical productions in London such as George and Ira Gershwin's Tip-Toes and Rodgers and Hart's Peggy-Ann, as well as the 1924 all-British musical Patricia and Wonder Bar in 1930. These four popular shows, among others, starred Dorothy Dickson, who was at the time the toast of West End musical comedy. After the ambitious 1930 Charlot's Masquerade, featuring scene sets and elegant costumes, Conway's last noteworthy stage production was the 1934 Why Not To-night?, choreographed by the young Agnes de Mille. These shows drew rave reviews for her promotional graphics and striking costume ensembles. Conway's early successes were for Gainsborough studios, a part of the newly reorganized Gaumont-British Picture Corporation, which contracted and elevated her to executive "Dress Designer." Determined to compete with Hollywood's global domination, the company pushed hard to increase production that included Conway's remarkable record of twelve feature films released in 1932, followed by nineteen in 1933. She was the only woman member of the hard-working executive team, headed by British-film pioneer and producer Michael Balcon. She worked ten-hour days, seven days a week, on a hectic schedule with debilitating deadlines and delays, on a meager budget, and in inadequate facilities that caused her to move her design studio and fitting area into her Bryanston Court flat. In this grinding atmosphere, she took full responsibility for her mother and their active social life. The bright spots in her professional life were close relationships with friends and colleagues, especially her tiny but talented and dedicated staff-including the young Margaret Furse-along with artisans at the London stores executing her designs. Because of Conway's vision and flair for marketing, the already demanding design and management job mushroomed to include media relations and promotional schemes to increase female audiences that yearned to emulate the new roles of professional women on the screen. Press coverage likewise singled out Conway herself as an example for aspiring professional women. Typical headlines proclaimed that she was "A Woman Prophet Of Film Fashion [in the] New Post In British Films," and one of the "Film Stars who Never Act." Gordon Conway had the distinction of serving as the head of the first autonomous wardrobe department in the history of British film, and one of the rare female film-production executives in the world at that time. Her professional rewards, however, came at a high price, for she was like contemporaneous Hollywood image-makers who had brilliant but limited film careers due to stress and ill health. Even with big Hollywood salaries and lavish studio ateliers, famed designers like Texas-born Travis Banton suffered from deeply felt clashes of taste with actresses and management, and from the pressure to compromise aesthetic judgment and produce showy, extravagant, and commercial images at a maddening pace. Conway agreed with most film-design pioneers that costuming was a device to delineate a character's role on the screen, as well as a screen-viewer's guide to women's dress. Such designers' efforts should be viewed in historical perspective: an Academy Award for costume art was not established until 1948. I offer FREE SHIPPING when you BUY 2 OR MORE ITEMS! Plus MULTI-ITEM DISCOUNTS with 10% OFF 2 items, 15% OFF 3 items and 20% OFF 4 or more items off everything in my store! I use recycled material in packaging as much as possible. With that being said, you can always count on your item being packaged with the utmost care and concern. I will refund or replace any item you receive damaged. I reserve the option to change shipping carrier/service, at no additional cost to you, to ensure the most economical and safe delivery. With over 500 items to choose from you are sure to find something you’ll LOVE! Check out my store For Love Of Shopping. Happy Shopping! Tags: fashion, portraits, advertisements, american magazines, zina drawings, theatre, presentation drawings, european magazine, films photography, photographs, artist biography, art works, art history, art catalog.

Price: 44.99 USD

Location: Sebastian, Florida

End Time: 2025-01-27T22:29:41.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD