Molti Ritratti: Dejah Thoris

Along with multiple portraits of famous people, now and then I'll present different versions of people for whom there is no photographic evidence or even people who are fictitious. The latter is the subject of this post.

Originally serialized in a magazine, Edgar Rice Burroughs' first story about John Carter of Mars -- "A Princess of Mars" -- eventually appeared in book form using that new title. That princess was Dejah Thoris, who naturally was featured on cover art for the many editions that appeared over the years.

If you do a web search on Dejah and call up images, you will see movie images as well as many cartoon-like illustrations. Those are ignored here. Below are book cover illustrations showing Dejah, allowing you to note the various ways artists chose to depict her. I also reveal which is my long-time favorite.

Gallery

"A Princes of Mars" cover art, Frank Schoonover - 1917
This is the earliest book cover, painted by noted illustrator Frank Schoonover. Here Dejah takes the form of an attractive Egyptian princess.

"A Princes of Mars" cover art, Vaclav Cutta
This is from a Czech edition, where she reminds me of 1920-vintage Hollywood exotic females.

Cover art for "The Warlord of Mars", J. Allen St. John
St. John famously illustrated many Borroughs books. Here too Dejah has a period Holywood appearance. However, John Carter really ought to look like Rudolph Valentino so as to match Dejah's Theda Bara, but he doesn't.

"A Princes of Mars" cover art, Frank Frazetta - 1970
Frazetta was hugely influential in the field of fantasy illustration, and his somewhat cartoon-like Dejah has been the model for most later illustration versions (that are not shown here).

"A Princes of Mars" cover art, Gino d'Achille - 1973
Here she is scantily clad, but not in a voluptuous pose.

"A Princes of Mars" cover, Michael WhelanWhelan gives Dejah a fabulous body, but again her pose is more modest than in Frazetta's version.

"A Princes of Mars" cover, Robert Abbett - 1963
Now this is my all-time favorite Dejah Thoris.

"A Princes of Mars" cover art, Robert Abbett
The original artwork, where the color is less hyped than on the book cover.
I first spotted the Abbett cover back in 1963 or 1965 at a news shop in, I think, Grand Central Terminal in New York City. It struck me so strongly that I simply had to buy a copy. Eventually the book disappeared from my collection. Years later, perhaps around 2014, I spied another copy at a book stall along the Seine in Paris, scooping it up for three euros. My problem was that I could not decipher Abbett's signature, increasing my long-term frustration regarding who did the artwork. Thankfully, a recent Web search allowed me to find that it was Robert Abbett, an illustrator I was unfamiliar with.

I also came across this commentary on the illustration by Gregory Manchess, an artist whose work I greatly respect. I was pleased that I wasn't the only one who appreciated Abbett's believable Dejah Thoris over the other versions.

Manchess wrote:

"This to me is one of the best A Princess of Mars covers ever done for the series. Painted in the mid-sixties, it captures that era of paperback style: from the handsome Napolean Solo look of John Carter, to the blue eye-shadowed, brunette Deja Thoris...

"From the wonderful color scheme of warm flesh against cool greens to the slap-dash brushwork, this painting has carried my interest for 40+ years. I love the way Abbett’s brush strokes carve around Deja’s shoulder and hair; I love the angle on John’s back and shoulders. Even the foreshortened sword is right on...

"But here’s where it gets me. Have you ever seen a sexier knee on a paperback? Exquisite."

Max Beckmann Portrays His Wives

Max Beckmann ( 1884-1950) is usually associated with the post- Great War Neue Sachlichkeit movement in Germany. His Wikipedia entry is here. I wrote about his many self-portraits here.

Besides portraying himself, Beckmann painted his wives -- especially his second wife -- and a number of these paintings are shown below.

His first wife was Minna Beckmann-Tube (1881-1964), Wikipedia entry here, who was about three years older than him, and a fellow art student. He insisted that she abandon art after their marriage, so she took up opera singing. She was mother of his son, and they remained friends after he dumped her.

Minna's replacement was Mathilde (Quappi) Beckmann (1904-1986), German Wikipedia entry here, 20 years younger than Beckmann. Quappi was a daughter of the important Munich painter Friedrich von Kaulbach.

There might have been more complications, but let's turn to the paintings.

Galery

Max Beckmann and Minna Beckmann-Tube - 1909

Minna Beckmann-Tube as Venus in Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser, Dessau 1916
Publicity image of Minna.

Minna Beckmann-Tube - 1924
He painted this around the time their marriage ended.

Beckmann and Quappi
Probably taken during the late 1920s.

Quappi - 1925
Beckmann emphasized her nose in his early portraits, then dialed that down by the 1940s.

Quappi - 1926

Quappi - 1931
For some reason the date for this seems wrong. Her hairdo is more appropriate for towards the end of the decade.

Quappi - 1932-34
I think this is Beckmann's best portrait of her.

Quappi - 1936

Quappi - 1937
In the upper-right corner Beckmann notes this was painted in Amsterdam where they lived from 1937 to 1948.

Quappi - 1943
Image slightly cropped at the bottom.

Quappi - 1944

Quappi - 1948
Painted in St. Louis. Like Beckmann, Quappi was a smoker.

Molti Ritratti: Colette

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954) is best known for her writing, but she also had a stage career when young. Her Wikipedia entry is here.

Unlike most of these "Molti Ritratti" posts, the subject sat for few formal portraits. What we mostly have are some informal paintings along with some sketches of her.

Regardless, how she was portrayed is emblematic of her times and career.

Gallery

Photo - 1906
Taken during her stage performance days.

By Fernand Humbert - c. 1896

By Jacques-Émille Blanche - c. 1905
The only formal, society-type portrait by a major artist that I could find.

By Henri Hensel - 1911
A mess, but hey!! it's Modern.

By René Carrere - 1918
Modernist feeling, but quite representational.

By André Favory - 1924
This is the last dated image I found on the Web.

By Shoshana Kertesz
Probably painted during the 1920s.

By André Dignimont
A very French sketchy take on her.

By Emilie Charmy

By Marcel Vertès

By Jean Cocteau
He was a jack of many artistic trades.

Molti Ritratti: Bernard Montgomery

Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein (1887-1976) is famous for winning the battle of El Alamein where he defeated the Axis forces led by Rommel, the Desert Fox, and for leading Allied ground forces in the 1944 D-Day invasion of Europe. His Wikipedia entry is here.

Montgomery was photographed countless times, as any on-line image search reveals. But given his fame and status, he was occasionally portrayed in oils. Most of the ones I found on the Web are shown below. As best I can tell, several -- perhaps most -- used photographic references rather than having been done from life. This was because most were painted during World War 2 when he was extremely busy on campaigns or involved in D-Day preparations. Also, they all depict Monty 1943-1945 -- at essentially the same age.

Gallery

By Yousuf Karsh - 1946
Reference photo by the famed Karsh of Ottawa.

By Emanuel Cremona - c. 1943
Montgomery was known for having piercing blue eyes, but this portrait ignores that feature.

By Edwin Swan - c. 1944
More of a sketch than a formal portrait.

By Harold Forster - c. 1943
An Impressionist-style portrait.

By Boris Artzybasheff (Time magazine cover illustration) - 1944
Here his eyes dominate.

By Augustus John - 1944
Another sketchy portrait, but by a famous artist. John had enough in the way of reputation and connections that it's possible Monty might have sat for him.

By James Gunn - 1944
Gunn was another well-known artist, and Montgomery might have sat for him as well. Generals in the British and American armies were allowed to deviate from regulation attire, and Monty notoriously wore sweaters and corduroy trousers. Here his attire is different from that, but still informal. I cannot positively identify the medal ribbon on his chest.

By Frank Salisbury - 1945
This pleasing portrait might have been painted after the German surrender in May of that year.

By Terence Cuneo - 1972
Painted before Monty died, but based on photos by the skilled painter-illustrator Cuneo. This was commissioned for the UK Defense Academy.

Max Beckmann Self-Portraits

Max Beckmann (1884-1950) is associated with Germany's post- Great War Neue Sachlichkeit movement. It favored harshly depicted, distorted, exaggerated subjects that often were little more than elaborate political cartoons.

Beckmann did not always go deeply in that direction. This was the case for his portrait work. Like Rembrandt, he chronicled his appearance sometimes as often as once a year, and more often than that at times. The numerous images below are not an exhaustive compendium of his self-portraits, but offer a sense of how he chose to represent himself as time passed.

Background on Beckmann can be found here. He left Germany for the Netherlands four years after modernist art hating Hitler gained power. Following World War 2 he moved to the USA, but died of a heart attack a few years later.

Gallery

Photo of Backmann
I don't have the year this was taken, but he appears to be in his 50s or older. His most noticeable feature is a strong, jutting jaw.

1907
Painted in Florence before he delved very far into Modernism. Note the cigarette -- many of the portraits below include one or sometimes a cigar.

1915
I suppose I would need to consult a biography to find background for this.  Beckmann ordinarily would have been conscripted and later moved to army reserve status.  He was about 30 years old when the war began, but theoretically would have been called to active duty on mobilization in August of 1914.  In fact, he served for about a year in a medical unit and, as his French Wikipedia states, Il est démobilisé en 1915 en raison d'une dépression nerveuse.

1917

1919

1921

1923
A Mussolini-like pose.

1926
Starting around 1920 his self-depictions are of a strong, not a weak, person. The cigar is in his mouth, not his hand as usual.

1927
This is probably Beckmann's most famous self-portrait.

1936
Shortly before he moved to Holland.

1937

1938

1942
Wartime, again.

1945

1950
Painted the year he died.