Jazz Age Beauties is a stunning hardcover volume that collects the photographic portraiture work of Alfred Cheney Johnston.  The book begins with a lively account of the Ziegfeld Follies, jazz age standards of beauty, and the arc of Johnston’s life as an in-demand artist.  Far from delaying the gratification of the galleries that follow, the initial introduction and essay give just the right amount of background information to set the stage for the photographs collected in the book.  The photographs are, of course, the main attraction.  There are a fine assortment of black-and-white nudes and nearly-nudes in Jazz Age Beauties and each portrait fixes style and beauty indelibly to the page.  Johnston’s talent is apparent in every photograph; not only does he capture the beauty of the human body, he also skillfully arranged each portrait as part of a scene that is as interesting as it arresting.  Beautiful girls in a beautiful book—what more can you ask for?  Jazz Age Beauties is a book that shimmies and swings.

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