The pictures in the National Portrait Gallery’s “Star Power” portray such Hollywood luminaries as Clark Gable, Greta Garbo and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. But the star of the show is photographer George Hurrell, who revolutionized the movie-actor portrait during the 1930s. He used dramatic lighting and evocative poses to make photos nearly as epic as a motion picture.
The 22 black-and-white pictures were selected from 70 Hurrell photos recently acquired by the museum. Most depict a well-known performer and were made during the Depression years in which Hurrell photographed every actor contracted to MGM Studios. A rare exception is a 1942 study of China-born cinematographer and director James Wong Howe, who pioneered the use of low light and deep shadows. Howe’s style is neatly illustrated by this portrayal: He sits next to a large spotlight, with half his face in darkness.
It’s easy to see the affinity between Howe’s atmospheric camerawork and Hurrell’s style, then unusual for a still photographer. Hurrell’s pictures feature deep blacks, rich grays and multiple light sources that can yield complex shadows. While the actors are elegantly dressed and meticulously positioned, these are not traditional formal portraits.
Myrna Loy, Rosalind Russell and Joan Crawford look directly at the camera, but Hurrell often had the stars gaze off to the side, as if engaged by something unseen to the viewer. The photographer sometimes captured big grins but seems to have preferred knowing half-smiles. Both these strategies animate a dynamic picture of Spencer Tracy, who’s peering partway over his shoulder at an invisible person or action that draws just a hint of amusement.
The broadest grin is on the face of Jimmy Durante, playing his customary role as a clown. Yet Hurrell’s portrait of the comedian is far from sunny. Lit from several angles, Durante’s body throws two large and somewhat menacing shadows, as if the performer were the villain of a German expressionist film.
The most disruptive force conjured by these pictures is female sexuality, whether as icy as Marlene Dietrich’s or as angelic as Claudette Colbert’s. The feather-hatted Dietrich, who reportedly always traveled with a full-length mirror, is one of the few subjects to be photographed from head to toe. Colbert, her hair in a short bob, is festooned with flowers and swathed in folds of gauze that suggest wings.
Intriguingly, a portrait of former striptease performer Gypsy Rose Lee reveals almost no skin. Her face and glimmers of neck and hair are cautiously enclosed by a hat, scarf and black fur coat.
Jean Harlow coils her body atop a stuffed polar bear, wearing a white gown that matches the animal’s fur and flashing a gentle smile that contrasts with the dead carnivore’s bared incisors. (When the picture was made, the “blonde bombshell” was just two years away from her death at 26, apparently of kidney failure.)
As she gazes beyond the frame, Greta Garbo sports tight curls and chandelier earrings. Her bare shoulders are framed by a fur coat as she flirtatiously rests a gloved finger on her lower lip. She doesn't look as if she wants to be alone.
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Less sensual, at least to these eyes, is a portrait of Johnny Weissmuller, the only one of these performers unfortunate enough to be photographed in a famous guise. Nearly naked, the “Tarzan” star poses in front of what is probably an artificial tree, appearing well-muscled and a bit silly.
The crouching Weissmuller is one of just a few subjects whose posture implies motion. Another is Robinson, the only African American here, who appears ready to dance his way backward up a small set of stairs. But most of the actors are represented more as precious objects, immaculately outfitted and exquisitely lit — albeit with twinklings of life in their eyes and on their lips.
Of course, MGM in the 1930s was known for wit and elegance more than action. In George Hurrell, the studio found the ideal photographer to express that disposition.
If you go
Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell
National Portrait Gallery, Eighth and F streets NW. npg.si.edu.
Dates: Through Jan. 5.
Prices: Free.
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