Greta Garbo

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

Date1928; printed later

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 13 1/2 × 10 11/16 inches (34.29 × 27.15 cm)
Sheet: 13 11/16 × 10 7/8 inches (34.77 × 27.62 cm)
Mount: 14 1/4 × 11 1/4 inches (36.2 × 28.58 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.2189

SignedSigned on image recto, lower right, in pencil: "STEICHEN"

Inscribednone

MarkingsOn mount verso, center, in pencil: "$300.00"

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionPortrait of a woman (Greta Garbo) wearing dark clothes seated against a white background. She has her hands raised to her face, cupping her head, obscuring most of her hair with her elbow resting on a fabric draped structure.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

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

20th-Century Works from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Cottey College, Nevada, MO, January 9 – 27, 1984, 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. 31.

Faces: an Exhibition from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. The Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS, April 7 - May 12, 1985, no cat.

Faces: an Exhibition from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Museum of Photographic Arts, Balboa Park, San Diego, CA, June 18 - August 25, 1985, no.31.

Faces: an Exhibition from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. Collett Art Gallery, Weber State College, Ogden UT, September 25 - October 27, 1989, no cat.

In the Public Eye: Photography and Fame. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 8 - June 15, 2008, 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

During his reign as the leading American advertising, fashion, and portrait photographer of the 1920s and 1930s, Edward Steichen recorded the most celebrated figures of the age. In this iconic work, actress Greta Garbo (1905-1990)-one of the most secretive of stars-engages the viewer with a remote stare. Here, Garbo is at once intimate and inscrutable, unmistakable and yet unknowable.

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), 125 (repro).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.