Alfred Cheney Johnston

The father of Nude Photography

Hello steemians.

Another weekend, another photographic dedication from me.
This week, we have a special dedication, requested by my good friends @mariossap & @nikosnitza.
Hope you guys like this too :)

The photography and its technique made a great revolution in art. But this was not acceptable from the beginning. This had many reasons, and one was because the photograph can capture what it sees (don't forget that we are talking about 1900, there were many great paint artists who're their work was so realistic, but they could fix any issue they do not like. In photography, this was unavailable at least at the start.
There was a war with "two corners"... Painters and photographers. The history learned us that many painters used photography is its technique to make their work more naturally to the viewer's eye, but still, there was not accepted the photography as part of the art. This had many parts, and one of it was the nude photography too.

Many painters had made a nude painting. The woman's body was and is a piece of art. But when you paint a not greatly sculptured body, you have the choice to make few changes. In photography, you did not have this option and those photos were the evidence of truth. Many art pieces were not naturally anymore.
Nude photography was not accepted from the beginning to art galleries but they had plenty of nude painting pieces.

Alfred Cheney Johnston was the first photographer who was accepted his nude photos as pieces of art.

Johnston's photo of Ziegfeld Follies showgirl.

His studies started in New York at the National Academy of Design where he studied painting and illustration. This was not his life's success and almost 10 years after his graduation, Florenz Ziegfeld took him as a contracted photographer. Ziegfeld Follies was his artistic home for fifteen years.

Classic Johnston 1920s nude portrait of unidentified model -- most likely a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl.

He managed to publish a book too, with 94 black-and-white photos ( 7x9 inch centred on a 9x12 inch page ) and its title is "enchanting beauty"

But life was not perfect for him.

April 17, 1971

3 years after the death of his wife Doris, he had a car crash near his home and he lost his life.

Hazel Forbes, Ziegfeld girl and Miss United States

Legacy
In 1960, Johnston donated a set of 245 large prints of his work (largely nude and semi-nude Follies showgirls, performers from various Ziegfeld shows including Fanny Brice, Billie Burke, Ruby Keeler, the Dolly Sisters, Ina Claire, Helen Morgan, Marilyn Miller, Grace Moore, Ann Pennington, Belle Baker and Ruth Etting, some well-known actors and actresses of the 1920s/1930s including Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Tyrone Power, John Barrymore, Pearl White, Barbara LaMarr, Orson Welles, Clara Bow, Ethel Barrymore, Claudette Colbert, Corinne Griffith, Clara Kimball Young, Theda Bara, Mabel Normand, Helen Hayes, Norma Shearer, Anita Stewart, Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Marie Prevost, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Miles Minter, Hope Hampton, and a number of product-advertisement photos) to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Apparently five of them have "gone missing" over the years, but the Library still has 240 images in its Prints and Photographs division (Lot 8782).

Many years later, a considerable number of original Johnston-printed (and sometimes autographed) photographic prints and many original negatives were purchased at several auctions by at least four different American collectors/entrepreneurs. Nowadays, both original 11x14-inch ACJ prints and more recent reprints from Johnston's original negatives have commanded significant prices in both on-line auctions and at photo galleries.

Mary Pickford

Many years passed but his work is still unbelievable and great. Many photographers and art painters learned from his work and some of them "copied" his poses.