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Bohemian Rogue
Stephen C. Jordan
€ 103.54
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Description for Bohemian Rogue
paperback. Num Pages: 200 pages, illustrations. BIC Classification: BG. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 227 x 150 x 13. Weight in Grams: 324.
Artist John Decker was born in Germany in 1895, but found his fame in Hollywood during the 1930s and '40s. At the age of 13, he was abandoned by his parents in London, where he found work painting scenery for the theatre circuit. Taken under the wing of a talented forger, Decker developed a remarkable ability to recreate works by the old Masters—a skill that helped land him in jail, but also brought him thousands of dollars throughout his life. After stowing away to America in 1921, Decker became a caricaturist for a New York paper. In 1928 he left for Hollywood and became friends with many of its biggest names, including John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, and W. C. Fields. Though Decker struggled to find film work as an artist and set designer, his drawings appeared in numerous publications from coast to coast. He was commissioned to do paintings of, among others, the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, Mickey Rooney, and Charlie Chaplin (who bought twelve of his portraits). Eventually, Decker's paintings were exhibited in Rome, New York, and Los Angeles, and his creations graced museum walls alongside many of the great artists, including Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Daumier. Stories on Decker, his art, and his exhibitions, appeared in all the major newspapers, as well as such magazines as Esquire, Time, and Newsweek. With all of his amazing talent—and scandalous exploits—it's surprising that the name of John Decker isn't more familiar today. In Bohemian Rogue: The Life of Hollywood Artist John Decker, author Stephen C. Jordan seeks to resurrect this forgotten figure of 20th century art. Jordan delves into the mystery of a man who overcame a difficult childhood and notorious apprenticeship to become a respected artist (and outrageous party-giver) in Hollywood. Bohemian Rogue chronicles the relatively brief—but eccentric—life of this neglected painter, caricaturist, and sculptor.
Product Details
Format
Paperback
Publication date
2004
Publisher
Scarecrow Press United States
Number of pages
200
Condition
New
Number of Pages
200
Place of Publication
Lanham, MD, United States
ISBN
9780810851597
SKU
V9780810851597
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15
About Stephen C. Jordan
Stephen C. Jordan has written articles for several publications including the Portland Press Herald and the Sporting News. He is also a freelance illustrator, whose work has appeared in newspapers as well as commissioned by sports organizations, including the Boston Red Sox. He is the author of Hollywood's Original Rat Pack: The Bards of Bundy Drive (Scarecrow, 2008).
Reviews for Bohemian Rogue
...Decker, a painter noted in his day for comic caricatures in the style of the Old Masters (his portrait of [W.C.] Fields as Queen Victoria famously hung in the entry of Chasen's restaurant until its closing in 1995). His life described in depth for the first time in "Bohemian Rogue," a 2005 biography by Maine attorney Stephen Jordan, Decker emerges as one of the great mysterious figures in Hollywood history - a man-about-town who hid a secret past, including internment during World War I as a German spy, three simultaneous marriages and, recent evidence suggests, a lucrative sideline as an art forger.
Los Angeles Times
Once in a blue moon, a rare nugget of literature is mined. Such is Bohemian Rogue, a masterpiece by Portland, Me., attorney, Stephen Jordan. It is a book you can't put down and don't want to end. It is a biography of artist John Decker but it is also a history of other Hollywood rogues who traveled in his wake.They were the original Rat Pack - W.C. Fields, Tony Quinn, Ben Hecht, Gene Fowler, John Barrymore and Sadakichi Hartmann.
Ottawa Sun
Born in Germany in 1895, John Decker later immigrated to America, first to New York, and later to Hollywood. A talented artist, he painted portraits of such stars as the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, and Mickey Rooney, while befriending the likes of John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, and W.C. Fields. In this biography, Jordan, an attorney, writer, and freelance illustrator, unfolds Decker's story from his work as an orphan in London painting theater scenery, his apprenticeship with a criminal artist who forged the old masters, his time in New York drawing caricatures, and his break into the Hollywood scene. The book includes b&w photos and reproductions of Decker's work. An appendix lists the works shown posthumously at the first John Decker Studios exhibition inthe spring of 1948..
Reference and Research Book News
Born in Germany in 1895, John Decker later immigrated to America, first to New York, and later to Hollywood. A talented artist, he painted portraits of such stars as the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, and Mickey Rooney, while befriending the likes of John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, and W.C. Fields. In this biography, Jordan, an attorney, writer, and freelance illustrator, unfolds Decker's story from his work as an orphan in London painting theater scenery, his apprenticeship with a criminal artist who forged the old masters, his time in New York drawing caricatures, and his break into the Hollywood scene. The book includes b&w photos and reproductions of Decker's work. An appendix lists the works shown posthumously at the first John Decker Studios exhibition in the spring of 1948.
Reference and Research Book News
Los Angeles Times
Once in a blue moon, a rare nugget of literature is mined. Such is Bohemian Rogue, a masterpiece by Portland, Me., attorney, Stephen Jordan. It is a book you can't put down and don't want to end. It is a biography of artist John Decker but it is also a history of other Hollywood rogues who traveled in his wake.They were the original Rat Pack - W.C. Fields, Tony Quinn, Ben Hecht, Gene Fowler, John Barrymore and Sadakichi Hartmann.
Ottawa Sun
Born in Germany in 1895, John Decker later immigrated to America, first to New York, and later to Hollywood. A talented artist, he painted portraits of such stars as the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, and Mickey Rooney, while befriending the likes of John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, and W.C. Fields. In this biography, Jordan, an attorney, writer, and freelance illustrator, unfolds Decker's story from his work as an orphan in London painting theater scenery, his apprenticeship with a criminal artist who forged the old masters, his time in New York drawing caricatures, and his break into the Hollywood scene. The book includes b&w photos and reproductions of Decker's work. An appendix lists the works shown posthumously at the first John Decker Studios exhibition inthe spring of 1948..
Reference and Research Book News
Born in Germany in 1895, John Decker later immigrated to America, first to New York, and later to Hollywood. A talented artist, he painted portraits of such stars as the Marx Brothers, Greta Garbo, and Mickey Rooney, while befriending the likes of John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, and W.C. Fields. In this biography, Jordan, an attorney, writer, and freelance illustrator, unfolds Decker's story from his work as an orphan in London painting theater scenery, his apprenticeship with a criminal artist who forged the old masters, his time in New York drawing caricatures, and his break into the Hollywood scene. The book includes b&w photos and reproductions of Decker's work. An appendix lists the works shown posthumously at the first John Decker Studios exhibition in the spring of 1948.
Reference and Research Book News