March 02, 2004
Portrait of Joan
I always look forward to
Vanity Fair's yearly Hollywood Issue for the articles on vintage movies and movie stars. The
latest edition has a long article (not online, drat!) on the making of the 1959 Joan Crawford kitschfest
The Best of Everything.
Speaking of Joan, the living room of our pal Joe boasts a huge framed painting of her. It looks to be from the same era as 'Best;' amazing in its detail. I don't know whether it was a movie prop, fan art, or something from Miss Crawford's own estate. Click below for a photo.
Posted by mhinrichs at March 2, 2004 04:00 PM
A little extra info: this is a very large, original painting signed "A. DeFrange." Joe told us he got it at an estate sale in San Francisco, and the owner had a few other paintings of other Hollywood stars. Anyone recognize it?
And "Mommy Dearest" seems to be one of those movies that hooks you into watching it when it's shown on TV, no matter how many times you've seen it.
Very little information is known of A. DeFrange.
I have been told his name is Antonio, that he was the first gay artist to have a showing of his "gay" art in a public gallery in San Francisco.
He did many portraits of Hollywood Icons...Joan Crawford was a favorite theme, as I have seen other images of her by him.
Do you think the owner would like to sell it? Does anyone know where to get one like it?
