Audrey: The 50s - Hardcover

Wills, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062472062 ISBN 13: 9780062472069

Publisher: Dey Street Books, 2016

Synopsis

A stunning photographic compilation showcasing Audrey Hepburn’s iconic career in the 1950s—the decade that solidified her place as one of the world’s greatest stars in film and fashion.

Devoted to her most influential decade, Audrey: The 50s brings together in one volume the allure and elegance that made Audrey Hepburn the most iconic figure in modern fashion history. Photographed during the early days of her career, both on the sets of Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, and other classic films, and in fashion photo shoots by top photographers who adored and immortalized her, these beautiful black-and-white and color images radiate with Audrey’s waifish charm, ethereal beauty, and effortless style.

Renowned author, curator and photographic preservationist David Wills has carefully selected this collection of two hundred museum-quality photos that capture Audrey in her prime as never before. Audrey: The 50s displays this star at her brightest, and brings her legacy into perfect focus.

Among the highlights:

• Rare and classic images digitally restored from vintage photographic prints, original studio negatives and transparencies.
• Never-before-seen publicity photos, scene stills and work shots from the sets of Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, Love in the Afternoon, and The Nun’s Story.
• Previously unpublished "posed candids" of Audrey at home.
• Beautifully restored advertisements, fan magazine layouts, international film posters and lobby cards.
• Quotes from photographers, directors, and costars, including William Holden, Gregory Peck, Fred Astaire, Billy Wilder, King Vidor, William Wyler, Edith Head, Hubert de Givenchy, Richard Avedon, Cecil Beaton, and Audrey herself.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Hollywood’s most beloved ingénue.

From the films that made her famous to the photographers who immortalized her, Audrey: The 50s brings the actress’s legacy into perfect focus.

At a time of absolute glamour, no one embodied 1950s Hollywood quite like Audrey Hepburn. In this, her most distinguished decade, Hepburn’s influence on fashion and film was ubiquitous—and everlasting. Gamine, doe-eyed, and irresistibly endearing, Hepburn delighted cinema audiences in classics like Roman Holiday, Sabrina, Funny Face, and The Nun’s Story. These films, along with the many magazine covers she graced and the photographers who adored capturing her charm, catapulted the sophisticated Hepburn to superstardom, placing her among the acting elite.

From one of the world’s largest private archives of original Audrey Hepburn photographs, renowned curator and photographic preservationist David Wills presents a stunning collection of images from Hepburn’s most iconic period, accompanied by an insightful introduction and quotes from Hepburn’s costars, directors, designers, photographers, and work associates. With more than 200 rare and classic images of Hepburn in character, on set, at home, behind the scenes, at award shows and photo shoots—some of which are being shown here for the first time and many digitally restored from their original photographic prints, negatives, and transparencies—Wills brings the 1950s back to life. Showcasing her glamour and incomparable style, Audrey: The 50s is a luxe testament to the actress’s timeless appeal and celebrates her enduring legacy.

About the Author

Australian-born David Wills is an author, independent curator, photographic preservationist, and editor who has accrued one of the world's largest independent archives of original photographs, negatives, and transparencies. He has contributed material to many publications and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Wills has produced a series of photography exhibitions based on images from his archive. His shows include Murder, Models, Madness: Photographs from the Motion Picture Blow-Up; Edie Sedgwick: Unseen Photographs of a Warhol Superstar; Blonde Bombshell; James Bond; Women with Issues: Photographs from the Motion Picture Valley of the Dolls; and Warhology.

Wills's books include Ara Gallant; Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis; Audrey: The 60s; Hollywood in Kodachrome; and Seventies Glamour. He is also the co-author of Veruschka.

His books and exhibitions have received major profiles in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, American Photo, Vogue, Interview, and Time. He has also written articles on photography and popular culture for publications including the Huffington Post, V Magazine, and Palm Springs Life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dey Street Books
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0062472062
• ISBN 13: 9780062472069
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256