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Jennifer Joseph Biography

Artist / Artist's Model

Jennifer Joseph isn't a household name, but as the model for the Columbia Pictures logo -- the draped lady holding a torch -- her likeness is seen by millions of moviegoers every year. After Sony Pictures Entertainment bought Columbia Pictures in 1989, New Orleans artist Michael Deas was commissioned to update the famous logo that has been around since the 1930s. Jennifer Joseph, at the time a 31 year-old designer with The Times-Picayune newspaper, modelled for Deas, although he used computer-generated images to construct a composite for the face. Joseph herself later became a muralist in Houston, Texas. In 2004 actress Annette Bening told movie critic Roger Ebert that she had been told she had been the model for the logo, but artist Deas said that wasn't the case.

Extra credit: Jenny Joseph is also the name of the English poet who wrote "Warning," a short poem with the famous line "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple."

Blog posts mentioning Jennifer Joseph:

• Extreme Makeover: Historical Edition