Edward Steichen
American, born Luxemburg 1879-1973

Marlene Dietrich, New York
1932
13 1/4” x 10 3/8“
Gelatin Silver Print
Ed. 15/30

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

Marlene Dietrich began her career in silent films in Berlin and would go on to become one of the great film stars of all time. In 1932, the year Steichen took this photograph, she starred in Shanghai Express as a Western woman “who lives by her wits along the China coast.” A light Chinoiserie screen sets off Dietrich’s black gown, wide-brimmed hat and plumage. Seated sidesaddle on a scroll back chair and clutching a long sheer scarf, her feet lie softly on a white fur rug. Dietrich’s face is partially shadowed by the hat, and her lips are parted as if she is about to greet her lover.

In the 1930 film Morocco, Dietrich shocked audiences when she appeared in a men’s tuxedo and kissed another woman on the mouth. This gender-bent image has been replicated by drag queens the world over. Dietrich, a bisexual woman who adored the Weimar-era queer nightlife in her home city of Berlin, would be delighted by such homage. You can almost hear her coo, ‘Oh, darling, how vonderful!’ in her inimitable accent.

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