Colorized Datu Balon, Bagobo Chieftain, c 1902-1904

Here is my colorization of a Philippine native tribe warrior, a 19 year old Datu Balon, a Bagobo Chieftain of Mindanao in the Southern Philippines. The original b&w photo was part of a the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1904.showcasing some of the peoples from US possessions, including local American Indians and other tribes worldwide. The Philippines was conquered by the US from Spain in 1999. Photographed by the Gerhard Sisters circa 1902-1904, downloaded from the U.S. Library of Congress.

 

Colorized Evelyn Nesbit_circa 1899-1900

My 3rd Evelyn Nesbit vintage to colorize. Discovered at 14, she became an overnight sensation as an artist’s model in New York, posing for the illustrated covers in Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar as well as calendars and advertising. She ventured in the emerging fashion photography, generating massive sales with her popularity in exotic and graceful costumes that sometime delivered erotic suggestiveness.

Colorized Carole Lombard 1932

Here is my colorized (two versions) photo of Carole Lombard.  This Paramount still was taken and released in 1932 to promote "Hot Saturday" where she never got to star in. It was a premature promo still. The role went to Nancy Carroll who as recently as two years before had been one of the studio's top female stars, but was by this time considered a "has been".   The film co-starred the young Cary Grant  and Randolph Scott and had a lukewarm reception.

Colorized Evelyn Nesbit circa 1900

My 2nd colorized version of Evelyn Nesbit (1884 - 1967), from a vintage photo circa 1900. Even in her mid-late teens, Evelyn posed before several photographers to endorse products. This is one of her earliest photos that have melted the hearts of both fans and artists.

Ava Gardner 1963 Colorized from 55 Days in Peking

From just being colorized, I took the easier route and composited some ostrich feathers from the net into the head gear. Then used some Photoshop brush strokes on the background. An emerald earning was added and some camera flare to top it off.

Another colorized image at a different angle from the same film 55 Days in Peking, also stylized

Bette Davis (1908 - 1989) colorized and composited by Alex Y. Lim

The tragedy of screen and beauty legends when getting old is not so much losing their beauty, as being remembered how they look when they lost it.  Here's a colorized Bette Davis from a photo by Ron Galella in 1980 with a superimposed photo of her youth by MGM's glamour photographer George Hurrell in 1939.

Colorized Joan Crawford circa 1924 - 1925

Who would have thought this was Joan Crawford in 1924-25? Born in 1906 (some put it at 1904), Joan started as a traveling chorus dancer based in Detroit under her real name Lucille LeSueur. That was 1924. Her first film was Lady of the Night in 1925, as the body double for MGM's most popular female star, Norma Shearer. MGM head Louis B. Mayer didn't like her last name as it reminded him of sewer. So they changed it to Crawford and Joan added her first name which was shortened from Jo-Anne, the name she wanted.

Florence Evelyn Nesbit Colorized 1902 photo

Evelyn Nesbit (1884 - 1967) was a popular Philadelphia-born chorus girl, artists' model, and actress of the early 20th century. She predated Cleo de Merode in Europe as the most photographed woman of her time, the earliest equivalent of a supermodel and pin-up girl appearing in virtually all circulation newspaper and magazine advertisements, souvenir items, and calendars, making her a cultural celebrity icon in her prime, Like Cleo, she posed for several respected artists, James Carroll Beckwith, Frederick S. Church, and notably Charles Dana Gibson, who idealized her as a "Gibson Girl", earning the distinction of being an early "live model" at a time when fashion photography was just starting as a medium for product endorsements.

But most of the older generation today probably remember her more as a major figure in what was considered the crime of the century, a crime of passion when her millionaire husband Harry Kendall Thaw shot and killed Nesbit's father-like lover and benefactor Stanford White in June 1906, with a highly publicized "trial of the century" that ended with Thaw serving life imprisonment.  The love story didn't end there.  Thaw was eventually paroled in 1915 and was reconciled with Evelyn in 1926.  Though never reunited, Thaw sustained her with allowance money until his death in 1947.

Bette Davis circa 1924-25

If taken in 1924, this would put Bette Davis in her late teens.

Bette Davies, Colorized Photo 1954

Here's a more familiar Bette Davis taken in 1954

Colorized Cleo de Merode 1905

Colorized photo of French Ballet Dancer Cleo De Merode (1875 - 1966) taken in 1903, a contemporary of Mata Hari. She was more known for her legendary beauty than dancing skills and at 22 became the mistress of 61-year old Belgian King Leopold II. The model of choice among painters, sculptors and photographers,  she is considered the most photographed woman during her prime.

Colorized Young Woman with Grapes and Vines by FW Guerin circa 1900

My second colorized work on the vintage photos of Fitz W. Guerin,

Colorized Gladys Cooper

Not many remembers Gladys Cooper (1888 - 1971) an English actress and a beauty legend during her prime, whose career spanned seven decades, starting on stage in 1917 until her sunset years in the movies of the 60s.  Perhaps among the 60s crowd, she's best remembered as the aristocratic mother to Mr. Higgins in the movie, My Fair Lady.  Here's my take on a commonly colorized vintage photo of Dame Gladys Constance Cooper taken in 1910 and a stylized version.

Colorized Joan Crawford, 1936

Back to Joan Crawford, colorizing another glamour shoot by George Hurrell in 1936

Colorized Marilyn Monroe circa 1954

What else can I say?  One of the few images where she never looked as gorgeous and sensuous as in this photo, posing before a 1952 Pontiac.