From the estate of legendary Ziegfeld Follies photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston comes this beautiful portrait of Follies showgirl Barbara Dean. Noted illustrator J. Knowles Hare was commissioned by impresario Flo Ziegfeld to create pastel illustrations of his glorified American girls based upon the the sittings between Johnston and the showgirls.  This romantically colored pastel captures a sophisticated and dramatic Dean that hews closely to the source photograph (seen above). The pastel is in the original wood enameled frame and French matted behind glass and captures the dazzling beauty of the model.

Barbara Dean was a long running Follies actress who appeared mainly in uncredited chorus line parts but who occasionally was featured in larger roles, as in 1920s Sally.

John Knowles Hare 1909 – 1978
Was an American Illustrator and coastal New England Painter of portraits, landscapes and marine scenes. Considered the Dean of Cape Cod artists Hare was masterful in both oil and watercolor painting. He was also a very prolific cover artist and illustrator, creating glamour girl prints for many of the leading calendar companies, usually in pastel, but also in pencils and oils. He did covers for Woman’s Home Companion, American Magazine, This Week, The Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, Ladies’ Home Journal, Photoplay, Modern Priscilla and Harper’s Weekly. The artist’s association with the photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston was previously undocumented.