Elmer Fryer is another Hollywood great who cannot be missed when mentioning the glamour photography of yesteryear.
Fryer was born in 1898 in Springfield, Missouri. He began working as a photographer in 1924. When Warner Brothers and First National Studios joined operations in 1929, Fryer replaced Fred Archer as head of the new Warner-First National Stills Department.
During the 1930s, Fryer took portraits of Dolores Del Rio, Kay Francis, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, James Cagney, Errol Flynn, George Brent among other Warner Brothers stars. He left Warner Brothers in 1941, shortly before his death at age 46 on March 3, 1944.
Fryer is known for his detailed and complex eye for posing his subjects. He had a wonderful sense of modernist style and fashion. He made use of the art deco period’s elegant shading and shadowing in black and white photography.
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