Gloria Swanson

Artist Edward Steichen (American, born Luxembourg, 1879 - 1973)

Date1924; printed ca. 1960

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 14 1/4 × 11 3/8 inches (36.2 × 28.89 cm)
Sheet: 15 1/16 × 12 inches (38.26 × 30.48 cm)
Mount: 16 11/16 × 13 11/16 inches (42.39 × 34.77 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.400

Signednone

Inscribednone

MarkingsOn mount recto, lower right, in pencil: "C"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionImage of woman's face; she's wearing a black turban and she looks through a piece of lace which covers the entire image.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

20th-Century Photographs from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA, January 10 - February 22, 1981, no cat.

Masters of 20th-Century Photography from the Hallmark Collection. Waterloo Municipal Galleries, Waterloo, IA, May 2 - June 13, 1982, no cat.

Faces: an Exhibition from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Whatcom Museum of History & Art, Bellingham WA, September 15 - November 14, 1983, no cat.

Faces: an Exhibition from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, September 16 - October 21, 1984, no. 32.

Faces: an Exhibition from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Museum of Photographic Arts, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, June 18 - August 25, 1985, no.32.

Twentieth-Century Photographers: Selections from the HPC. Columbus College of Art & Design, Columbus, OH, March 28 - April 27, 1996, no cat.

Rotation 1. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 17 – October 25, 2007, no cat.

Edward Steichen – In High Fashion: The Condé Nast Years 1923-1937. Jeu de Paume, Paris, October 9 - December 30, 2007, Kunsthaus Zürich, January 11 - March 30, 2008, Chiostri di San Domenico, Reggia Emilia, Italy, April 15 - June 8, 2008, Museo del Traje, Madrid, June 24 - September 22, 2008, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany, October 10, 2008- January 1, 2009, International Center of Photography, New York, NY, January 16 - May 3, 2009, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, May 30 - November 8, 2009, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, September 26, 2009 - January 3, 2010, NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, FL, February 28 - April 11, 2010, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 15 - July 25, 2010, hors cat (Kansas City only).

Gallery Label

This portrait of silent film star Gloria Swanson shows Edward Steichen’s original approach to celebrity portraiture. After a long day in the studio, Steichen had a flash of inspiration. He recalled: “I took a piece of black lace veil and hung it in front of her face. She recognized the idea at once. Her eyes dilated, and her look was that of a leopardess lurking behind leafy shrubbery, watching her prey.” In this era, Steichen was the leading fashion and portrait photographer in the United States.

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1969;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.

Published References

Edward Steichen, A Life in Photography (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1963), 128 (repro).

Keith F. Davis, Faces, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: Hallmark Cards, Inc., 1984), 4.

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