cp-webdeskJenny Joseph wasn’t a model. She wasn’t an actress. She had never posed professionally before or after. But, following one serendipitous shoot, the doe-eyed British woman became one of the most iconic figures in contemporary film. Joseph, as you can see, is instantly recognizable as Miss Liberty, the torch-wielding figure in the Columbia Pictures logo that flashes before each of the studio’s movies.
“We are both amused by the attention it gets, even to this day,” says Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Kathy Anderson, who shot the reference photos for artist Michael Deas, who used the images as inspiration to paint the 1992 version of the studio’s logo, which is still used today.It all began in the vibrant jazz-filled heart of New Orleans in the early ’90s, when Deas — whose paintings of renown figures like Abraham Lincoln and Marilyn Monroe hang in museums around the world, as well as adorn several U.S. postage stamps — was commissioned by Columbia Pictures to update its famous logo, featuring a draped woman holding a torch aloft like the Statue of Liberty, an iteration of which has appeared at the beginning of every Columbia Pictures film since 1924.In its early days, the film studio featured a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand as its lead image, before it was updated in 1928 to a woman with a draped flag and torch.
Over the next several decades, Columbia introduced variations of the logo — pulling inspiration from actresses Evelyn Venable (who also voiced the Blue Fairy in Disney’s Pinocchio) and Jane Bartholomew, who was reportedly paid $25 for her efforts and whose likeness inspired the image that was ultimately used by the studio from 1936 to 1976.When Deas was approached by the studio to paint a modern version of Miss Liberty, he knew he needed an exceptional photographer to capture images he could reference during the creative process. That’s when he recruited Anderson, who jumped at the opportunity.
“Over the years, I have shot many reference photos for Michael, including book covers and commissioned portraits,” she tells Yahoo Entertainment. “So, when he contacted me about shooting a reference for the project, I immediately said yes.”Anderson was working at the time as a photographer for the local newspaper, The Times-Picayune, and when the time came to scout for models, she explains that Deas wasn’t having much success. One of her Times-Picayune colleagues suggested Joseph, then 28, who was working as a graphic artist for the publication.
Joseph was in the right place at the right time. The first-time model agreed to help Anderson during an impromptu lunch break.
