From the estate of legendary Ziegfeld Follies photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston comes this portrait of Follies showgirl Naomi Johnston. Noted illustrator J. Knowles Hare was commissioned by impresario Flo Ziegfeld to create pastel illustrations of Ziegfeld’s glorified American girls as they were captured by photographer A.C. Johnston, for a variety of display and publicity uses. The finished pastel shows a soft and romantic, risqué yet demure Naomi Johnson and comes in a handsome silver gallery frame behind glass with original french matting.

Naomi Johnson was one of the most popular Ziegfeld girls of the jazz age, performing in the Follies and associated musical comedies from 1922 until her retirement in 1930. She was considered to be Alfred Cheney Johnston’s favorite model, and began posing nude for him in her uninhibited teenage years. Her statuesque draped nude photographs are among Johnston’s most famous images.

Jo. 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.