Tag: goddess

Autochromes by F. P. Knott

Woman adorned like a Chinese goddess poses in a garden in California, 1915. Photograph by Franklin Price Knott. | src National Geographic
Portrait of a woman draped with red silk. Photograph by Franklin Price Knott. | src National Geographic
Undated autochrome of a water lily garden by Franklin Price Knott. | src National Geographic

Dancing with Helen Möller, 1918

“The idea of Pan inspires the Greek dancer with a charming variety of interpretations of a lyrical, as well as of a sprightly and mischievous, character.” From ‘Dancing with Helen Möller’, 1918. Page 110. University of California Libraries. | src internet archive
“An adaptation of the classic idea of Pan — three manifestations emphasizing the gay and mischievous attributes of that minor deity of the Arcadian woodland.” From ‘Dancing with Helen Möller’, 1918. Page 28. University of California Libraries. | src internet archive
“All true physical expression has its generative centre in the region of the heart, the same as the emotions which actuate it. Movements flowing from any other source are aesthetically futile.” From ‘Dancing with Helen Moller’, 1918. Page 96. University of California Libraries. | src internet archive
“Both of these Bacchante figures exhibit original interpretations in which beauty of line is sustained in connection with appropriate gestures and facial expression.” From ‘Dancing with Helen Moller’, 1918. Page 81. University of California Libraries. | src internet archive
“Bacchante. Showing the moment of lustful anticipation of delight in the intoxicating product of the fruit — as though hardly to be restrained from seizing and devouring at once.” From ‘Dancing with Helen Moller’, 1918. Page 102. University of California Libraries. | src internet archive
“Woodland interpretation. The ocean-born Aphrodite being adorned by Goddesses of the Seasons for her first appearance among her peers on Olympus.”
Helen Moller and Curtis Dunham :: ‘Dancing with Helen Moller; her own statement of her philosophy and practice and teaching formed upon the classic Greek model, and adapted to meet the aesthetic and hygienic needs of to-day’, 1918. Page 112. University of California Libraries. | src internet archive

ACKNOWLEDGMENT: Many of the photographs reproduced in this book were taken by the author herself. For the privilege of reproducing other fine examples of the photographer’s art, she desires to express her grateful acknowledgments to Moody, to Maurice Goldberg, to Charles Albin and to Underwood and Underwood; also to Arnold Genthe for the plate [lost plate] on Page 36; and to Jeremiah Crowley for his admirable arrangement of the entire series of illustrative art plates. [quoted from source]

Goddess of Discord with apple

Friedrich Stahl-Feldafing :: Gemälde. Eris Göttin der Zwietracht mit dem Zankapfel, Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration: illustr. Monatshefte für moderne Malerei, Plastik, Architektur, Wohnungskunst u. künstlerisches Frauen-Arbeiten, 1918. | src Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg

Mia May in Die Herrin der Welt

Mia May in Die Herrin der Welt, Teil 5: Ophir, die Stadt der Vergangenheit / ‘Mistress of the World part 5’: Ophir, the City of the Past, a UFA production directed Uwe Jens Krafft. Artistic direction and executive production: Joseph (Joe) May

Immediately after the First World War and the founding of the Weimar Republic, Joe May set up a gigantic project in his “Filmstadt” in Woltersdorf. Following the example of American and Italian monumental films and serials à la The Count of Monte Cristo, he brought out a series of eight consecutive, largely self-contained feature films at the end of 1919. His wife, the former operetta diva Mia May, played the leading role of the world traveler Maud Gregaard, who wants to take revenge on her father’s murderer and experiences all sorts of love and other adventures about it. The 5th part, in which Maud and her companion find the mysterious city of Ophir in the heart of Africa, is an adventure film that was staged with great effort – and May’s colleague Fritz Lang may have had to thank her for a few suggestions for Metropolis. [Deutsches Historisches Museum]

Mia May as Maud Gregaard (mistaken as the reincarnation of the goddess Astarte). German postcard by Ross Verlag, Nr. 634/6. Photo © May Film

The large-scale film series about the adventuress Maud Gregaard, who becomes a modern »Countess of Monte Cristo« in eight parts, was produced in May 1919 and screened at weekly intervals at the end of the year. In Part 5, Maud, having just escaped from the natives of the Makombe tribe with her companion Madsen, ends up in the mysterious city of Ophir in Central Africa. There they mistake the high priests for the goddess Astarte, while Madsen is thrown to the slaves. With the help of the engineer Stanley, who is also enslaved, the trio finally finds the legendary treasure of the Queen of Sheba – and prepare their breakneck escape … A few kilometers outside of Berlin, in a gigantic studio recordings: Joe May’s “Filmstadt”, almost 30,000 people participated. [Film Archiv Austria]

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Nr. 634/6. Photo: May Film. Mia May in Die Herrin der Welt / Mistress of the World (Joe May and others, 1919) | src Flickr