"Be Original or Die"

Zelda Magazine Postcard (Photo credit: lulubrooks)

Madame Yevonde, who was a world-class photographer, lived by the motto, "Be Original or Die."  She was born in 1893, and she started out by photographing socialites and aristocrats in 1930s England.  In 1935, using a new type of color processing called VIVEX, she took the cream of society and photographed them as goddesses and classic mythological figures.  (Hence my interest.)  She went on to photograph royalty, fashion models and everything in between.  Her work appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.  She died in 1975.

You really, really, really need to check out the website devoted to her work.  Here is link to the goddesses page.  I especially recommend you look at Lady Dorothy Warrender, who depicts the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres.  (In fact, I've pinned it, but you really should see all of them.) Check out the advertising page too.  Some of the ad photos seem pretty bold, but those English magazines were way more sexy than the American ones.  

Big thanks to Star at MyMilanItaly for introducing me to this Madame Yevonde.  Enjoy!

PS: I'm not sure if Madame Yevonde took this photo for Zelda Magazine, but it looks like her work and it's the closest I could get from Zemanta.