Dolores del Rio

<p>George Hoyningen-Huene moved to Paris in 1920 and joined the city's rich cultural life, making friends with avant-garde artists and working odd jobs before finding a steady position as a fashion illustrator for French <em>Vogue</em>. When the magazine opened its first photographic studio in 1926, Huene was responsible for drawing backdrops, but was quickly reassigned to make photographs instead. His fashion photographs tended toward a classicized, reassuring Surrealism that often portrayed the (female) body in unfamiliar views or included sculpture as props. The disembodied head of Dolores del Rio, a Mexican-born silent film star, serves here as a sort of sculpture in itself, resting on a table and crowned by a flowered cap that recalls a laurel wreath. Huene, who greatly admired del Rio, remarked of her features as a model, &quot;The bone structure of her head and body is magnificent. Her skin is like ripe fruit.&quot;</p>