Nickolas Muray
CREAM OF WHEAT, BOYS PLAYING FOOTBALL, 1936
George Eastman House: 1971:0056:0027

Today is SuperBowl Sunday, representing the ultimate confluence of American football and commercial advertising. To honor this auspicious occasion, we bring you an example of football in commercial photography from 1936. This photo from Nickolas Murray presents us with a more innocent, playful tone than the gladiatorial spectacle football has evolved into over the years.

“Born in Hungary in 1892, Nickolas Muray immigrated to the United States in 1913, working first as a printer and then opening a photographic portrait studio in Greenwich Village in 1920. He became well known for his celebrity portraits, publishing them regularly in Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Ladies’ Home Journal, and The New York Times. After 1930, Muray turned away from celebrity and theatrical portraiture, and became a pioneering commercial photographer, famous for establishing many of the conventions of color advertising. He is considered the master of the three-color carbro process.”

- Nickolas Muray Photo Set

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Tags: George Eastman House

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 1st, 2009 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Best of The Commons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.