Mail Art

I grew up with Old Hollywood. It wasn’t rare for my family to spend at least one weekend night watching an old movie. Casablanca, All About Eve, The Philadelphia Story, The Searchers, Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity. To Kill a Mockingbird in the fall, It’s a Wonderful Life for Christmas, and Hitchcock in between. And, throughout all of this, I was captivated (like most are) by the stars that I saw on screen. The women especially stood out to me - their glamour and femininity gave them an aura on screen, whether in black in white or Technicolor. When I made my Instagram account at age sixteen, I immediately followed a healthy handful of Old Hollywood accounts, some of which I still follow today. In these accounts, I found all the women that I grew up watching, while also discovering new actresses. More than this, I was able to learn about the lives of the real women, not the characters they portrayed on screen.

I wanted to use these women, ones that I grew up with as well as ones who I have learned about since, in this project. I wanted a mix of actresses, so some are well-known, and others not as much, and some are considered serious and prolific actresses, and others sex symbols. I sketched each woman, then mounted her image on a black background before attaching it inside a card. I liked the foldable card because it reminds me of folding photo frames, the kind that can stand on their own or be closed. I used receipt paper to maximize the color payout of my markers, and accented the portraits with white gel pen so that they’d pop. On the opposite page of the card, I listed her name, lifespan, and 2-3 interesting facts about her. I tried to give a decent summary of her career, but prioritized personal details that aren’t as well-known as film roles. I selected the following actresses: Bette Davis, Eartha Kitt, Carmen Miranda, Hedy Lamarr, Anna May Wong, Lena Horne, Rita Hayworth, Barbara Stanwyck, Carole Lombard, Ava Gardner, Marlene Dietrich, Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield, Jane Russell. Some of my other favorites (runners up?) are: Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Dorothy Dandridge, Katharine Hepburn, Cyd Charisse, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Dolores del Río, Myrna Loy, María Félix, Veronica Lake, Loretta Young, Lana Turner, Gene Tierney, Claudette Colbert.

For me, this was an incredible opportunity to share these women that I adore, while also finding out even more information about their personal lives. My hope is that each recipient learned something new about the actress they received, or even learned about someone they’ve never heard of before. One of the main goals with this project was to humanize these people. Growing up watching actresses in old movies, I never had the opportunity to consider these women outside the roles that they portrayed on screen. In these roles, the image of the woman is fabricated, molded into archetypal roles of femininity: the femme fatale, the comédienne, the exotic woman, the bombshell. Reading about the women themselves allowed me to break past these stereotypes. I wanted to pair glamorous studio shots with facts about their lives, facts that were often shocking and heartbreaking.

Influences:
theyhadfaces - one of the first Instagram accounts I followed. She posts fantastic content and gripping stories about well-known and long-forgotten old stars. She has over 17,000 posts (!!!), many with captions that continue into the comments.
shadesofsunshine - an Instagram artist that used to be very active but hasn't posted in a while. She draws these delicate and stunning portraits, many of Old Hollywood stars. One of my favorites because she's able to capture the image and personality of everyone she draws.
oldhollywoodism - there's a million of these types of accounts, but the best ones are those that are dedicated to posting a variety of images with great captions that help you learn more about the stars. I think this account has quality content.

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