Lot 28: MARGRETHE MATHER

MARGRETHE MATHER 1886-1952 JETTA GOUDAL AND HAROLD GRIEVE platinum print, mounted, signed and dated in pencil on the mount, caption in pencil on the reverse, 1930 6 7/8 by 8 1/2 in. (17.5 by 21.5 cm.)

Sotheby's New York, 28 April 2004, Sale 7987, Lot 174

Jetta Goudal was an enigmatic, European-born silent film actress who appeared in eighteen films, among them Salome of the Tenements, DeMille's The Coming of Amos, White Gold, and D. W. Griffith's Lady of the Pavements. Because she was deemed temperamental, likely a result of her continuous objections to scenes, costumes, and direction, not to mention her lawsuits against various studios for which she worked, her film offers dwindled in the late 1920s and early 1930s. She became interested in interior decoration, which is how she came to know Harold Grieve, noted motion picture art director and set designer (Scaramouche, Lady Windermere's Fan) who later became an eminent interior designer, decorating the homes of prominent Hollywood personalities. Goudal and Grieve were good friends of Mather. This photograph may have been taken around the time of the couple's marriage in October 1930 ('Jetta Goudal: The Exotic,' Charles C. Benham, Classic Images).

For another image of the couple, see Margrethe Mather & Edward Weston, A Passionate Collaboration, p. 117.

Sotheby's wishes to thank Mather expert Beth Gates-Warren for sharing her detailed knowledge of Mather and her circle.