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Twenty-five years after Grace Kelly’s tragic death, Howell Conant’s photographs of her still resonate with the “natural glamour” that changed Hollywood.

It was an extraordinary friendship between photographer and subject. Over a period spanning 27 years, from the early years of her Hollywood fame to her tragic car accident in 1982, Howell Conant captured Grace Kelly as she blossomed from a movie legend into a princess and then mother and royal role model. In the process, Conant broke through the cold, goddess-style portrait style that was the vogue and created a new look in Hollywood portraits: natural glamour. Yet, throughout, Conant acted not just as her official photographer but also her confidant, who had access to Grace in her most private moments.

Twenty-five years after Grace Kelly’s tragic death, Howell Conant’s photographs of her still resonate with the “natural glamour” that changed Hollywood.

It was an extraordinary friendship between photographer and subject. Over a period spanning 27 years, from the early years of her Hollywood fame to her tragic car accident in 1982, Howell Conant captured Grace Kelly as she blossomed from a movie legend into a princess and then mother and royal role model. In the process, Conant broke through the cold, goddess-style portrait style that was the vogue and created a new look in Hollywood portraits: natural glamour. Yet, throughout, Conant acted not just as her official photographer but also her confidant, who had access to Grace in her most private moments.

You can go there, too, even to the Bates Motel.

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It looks both backward to everything Hollywood had learned about Westerns, and forward to things that films hadn’t dared to do.

It is a phrase so high-concept that it ought to be the title of a movie, or at least the slogan for a marketing campaign, the ultimate coming attraction.

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