Edward Steichen
American, born Luxemburg 1879-1973

Gloria Swanson
1927
13” x 10 ¼“
Gelatin Silver Print
Ed. 15/30

Gift of Aaron Schechter and Elaine Abrams Schechter, 2002

Edward Steichen was the Chief Photographer for both Vogue and Vanity Fair during the time when silent films gave way to talking pictures.

In 1927, he photographed silent film star Gloria Swanson at the height of her career as she was producing and starring in the film that would earn her the first of three Oscar nominations, Sadie Thompson. Steichen is able to capture the qualities that Ms. Swanson brought to her early roles as she is draped in a lustrous satin dress, perched on an upholstered settee. Yet he also manages to document a woman in power. She casts an imposing shadow, her arms crossed and her modern face projecting an air of no-nonsense strength. This photo represents the brief time in early Hollywood when a woman called the shots as a producer.

As talking pictures made silent films obsolete, Swanson’s popularity began to wane. But in 1950, she made a triumphant comeback in Sunset Boulevard as Norma Desmond…a silent film star who passed into obscurity with the advent of sound. This photograph makes the case for what Norma Desmond describes as the difference between silent films and the talkies: “We didn’t need words. We had faces.”

Written by Rob Maitner, graduate student in the Arts Administration program at Baruch College.