Velvetina face powder box c. 1910
FNB readers are in for a wonderful treat this week. Writer and vintage cosmetics collector Joan Renner has graciously agreed to share highlights from her collection of more than 500 items.
I’ll start today with Joan’s impressive bio and part one of our Q&A, conducted via email. Part two will post tomorrow. Joan has also provided images of some of her favorite pieces.
Writer Joan Renner
She is a board member for the non-profit Photo Friends (affiliated with the Los Angeles Public Library), and is on the board of the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles. Additionally, she volunteers for the Los Angeles Police Historical Society, and the Los Angeles Conservancy. She has been an invited lecturer at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and has lectured at the Queen Mary Art Deco Festival. She is currently appearing in a segment on film noir for the Turner Classic Movies series Film Fanatics; as well as appearing in an episode of the ID Discovery Channel’s series Deadly Women (the episode is entitled “Outlaws”).
FNB: How long have you been collecting and how/why did you get started?
JR: I’ve always had an affinity for the past. As a teenager, well before I had a notion of collecting anything specific, I would bring home bits and pieces like vintage clothing, photographs, books, even furniture. My early collecting efforts mimicked a crow picking up shiny objects and taking them back to the nest. I believe I began to collect because everything that I brought home made me feel comfortable – like being in the company of dear friends.
FNB: What’s the oldest piece and what dates does the entire collection span? Is it mostly made up of 1940s pieces or does it span several decades?
JR: The oldest pieces in my collection are face powder boxes which date from the late 1800s, and I don’t collect anything much later than 1955. The face powder boxes produced during the “Golden Age of Commercial Art” (which was from the 1880s through the 1920s) are among my favorites. Many of the designs are exquisite.
The boxes from 1880 to 1900 are particularly lovely because they are subtle in design and muted in color, very different from the boxes that would appear during the 1920s through the 1950s. The cosmetics ephemera created after 1920 frequently featured bolder designs in a riot of colors.
FNB: Do you have a favorite category, say lipsticks or compacts, or favorite piece?
JR: If I had to pick a favorite category it would be face powder boxes. There’s something magical to me about them. They represent more than just a cosmetics container; the boxes held the hopes and dreams of generations of women who endeavored to put their best face forward.
Marinello face powder ad c. 1910s
FNB: Do any of your pieces have a personal history or story attached?
JR: Much to my surprise, no, the boxes and other ephemera come to me so far removed from their original owners that the sellers don’t seem to know much about them. That’s okay with me; I have an active imagination and invent my own stories for them.
The rest of our Q&A and more pictures will run tomorrow.
From FNB readers