Makeup Artist

“There isn’t a woman in the world that cannot be made more beautiful.” – Ern Westmore

Ern Westmore was known as the Westmore said to be the best in the business with the ‘finest hand.’ Ern began his career at Warner Brothers in 1925 and took a position as the head of the makeup department at RKO Studios in 1930. He then left in 1931 to partner with Max Factor and worked with him until 1934. When the House of Westmore opened in 1935, he became the manager of the salon and was in charge of the makeup department at 20th Century Fox. Of the prominent Westmore family, Ern and his brother Perc opened the House of Westmore beauty salon in 1935 on Sunset Boulevard. Ern and his brother Perc completed makeup for stars such as Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Merle Oberon, Olivia de Havilland, Brenda Marshall and Lauren Bacall. In October 2008, the Westmore family received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work in the motion picture industry.

A Tour of Hollywood | Drawings by Thomas Hart Benton

“Some while back [in 1937], Thomas Benton, the highly-rated American artist, was despatched to the West Coast to paint a composite picture of life in Hollywood. The half-dozen drawings reproduced in this portfolio are among the by-products of that mission to Hollywood. They range from sketches on the spot to labored elaborations of sketches. The artist’s base of operations was the couch in the luxuriously appointed office of Raymond Griffith, one of the producers for 20th Century Fox. From this couch he made forays into the vast departmentalized domain that is a major moving picture studio, and also a little beyond.” – Harry Salpeter, A Tour of Hollywood: Drawings by Thomas Hart Benton