Rita Hayworth: The Lady

Andrew Cowdell, The Lady, 2015, oil and silver leaf on linen

The Lady is a silver leaf oil portrait of Elsa (Rita Hayworth) in The Lady from Shanghai (1948). Director Orson Welles stars alongside his estranged wife Hayworth before finalising their divorce. In taking the role of scheming femme fatale Elsa, Hayworth’s image was to undergo a drastic change. She allegedly wanted to break from the character she had become so identified with in her previous hit movie Gilda (1946), so she had her famous long hair cut and bleached blonde. Welles was held responsible for the controversial look, as Hayworth later recalled Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn saying “He’s ruined you - he cut your hair off!”

Veronica Lake: cabaret noir

Andrew Cowdell, Cabaret noir, 2015, oil on canvas

Veronica Lake exudes a guileless charm as a nightclub singer in This Gun for Hire (1942). 

This classic hard-boiled thriller was adapted from Grahame Greene’s novel A Gun for Sale and made Alan Ladd an instant star. Ladd’s gun-for-hire Raven is a brutal assassin with a benevolent affection for cats; the scene where he silences a stray moggie is particularly portent. Lake’s character becomes a symbol of redemption to Ladd’s murderous anti-hero who holds her captive. United by fate, the singer and the killer form an uneasy alliance to expose a chemical company suspected of treason against their country. 

This Gun for Hire was the first film of several to pair Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake together.

Marlene Dietrich: femme fatale

Marlene Dietrich, Shanghai Express, 1932

Shanghai Express (1932) is memorable for its stylistic black-and-white chiaroscuro. Using just a key light the cinematographer creates a high-contrast scene which transforms Marlene Dietrich into femme fatale. Placed high, the key light draws angles in Dietrich’s features and gives more prominent cheek bones and longer nose shadows. These visually stylish effects would later influence the look of film noir.

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, 1920

Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, 1920

A key film in the development of the cinema of the imagination, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari was linked in the public mind with the Expressionist art movement. Fritz Lang, attached to direct before Robert Weine took over, devised the frame story which later influenced his noir thriller The Woman in the Window, 1944. The film’s design included forms and shadows painted directly onto the dreamlike sets which were made of canvases and paper. Due to its Expressionist imagery Caligari remains one of the most famous German films from the silent era.

Andrew Cowdell, The Return, 2014

Andrew Cowdell, The Return, oil on canvas

This monochrome oil painting takes its inspiration from the movie Laura (1944). The concept explores the theme of the ‘magical portrait’ which characterises many noir thrillers and gothic melodramas of the 1940s. The gothic exists in the core of the portrait not only in its classical style, but also in its true representational meaning; it is a ‘symbolic body’ replacing a ‘mortal body’. In choosing this concept I am exploring the same underlying theme of presence and absence as dominates the film’s narrative.

Andrew Cowdell, The allure of night, 2014

Andrew Cowdell, The allure of night, oil on canvas

Hello everybody, and welcome to Art in Noir.

The black-and-white cinematography of the classic era is a mood which still colours my childhood memories of the 1970s. It was both comforting and exciting to bask in the monochromatic glow from our big old television set in the living room. It's of no surprise to me now that those same black-and-white dreamlike qualities are permeating my artworks.

Taking my inspiration from the 1946 film noir The Killers, this monochrome oil painting fuses various elements of the dark narrative to represent a conceptualized image. Ava Gardner as Kitty Collins is the ultimate femme fatale; sultry and sardonic, she at once embodies everything that is beautiful and terrible. Kitty's lover, Ole, takes the rap for her stolen jewellery and is sentenced for a three-year prison term. Ole's cellmate Charleston passes the time by gazing at and studying the stars. When Charleston describes a bright star in the night sky, Ole is thinking of Kitty:

"You see that bright star in the center...brightest star in all the heavens. Only it's so far away, it don't seem like it."

But Kitty hasn't written or visited Ole in prison during his entire incarceration. Kitty dominates the fate in store for those who embark upon nocturnal adventures. Her mysterious attraction corresponds to the unfathomability of the night itself.

Thank you for reading.