Steichen’s Modern Eye
W. C. Fields, a fixture in early soundstage comedies, surrounded by assorted props in his role as the “chief comedian” of the Ziegfeld Follies. July 1925.
Gloria Swanson, behind a curtain of lace, as the first feature-length “talkies” were emerging. February 1928.
Although Gary Cooper, photographed at age 29, represented “the epitome of cinema sex appeal”—so Vanity Fair gushed—the actor, who would go on to win two Academy Awards (Sergeant York, High Noon), had a reputation for abhorring portrait sessions. February 1930.
Actress Greta Garbo in her definitive five-minute sitting for Steichen on the set of A Woman of Affairs in 1928. The classic frame was composed as “the Great Garbo” pulled back her tresses while complaining, “Oh, this terrible hair.” October 1929.
Winston Churchill, photographed eight years before becoming prime minister of the United Kingdom. April 1932.
Composer George Gershwin, who established numerous landmarks in popular music before his death in 1937, at the age of 38—in a portrait as pithy as a classic lyric. January 1929.
A self-portrait made in Steichen’s New York studio, at age 50, of the creative dynamo, who was a painter and portraitist, curator and fashion photographer, still-life and advertising photographer, mentor to many, and chief coordinator of combat and aerial photography units in both World Wars. October 1929.
Six years after this portrait was made, aviator Amelia Earhart—the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic—would disappear over the Pacific during an attempted circumnavigation of the globe. November 1931.
Walt Disney seated with twin iterations of his most famous creation: Mickey Mouse. October 1933.
Actor Paul Robeson, as Brutus Jones in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones, which Vanity Fair covered the month before the movie version premiered. August 1933.
Willa Cather, who had been nominated to the magazine’s Hall of Fame in 1921, photographed five years after having received a Pulitzer Prize for her novel One of Ours. April 1927.
Noël Coward, the playwright, composer, and actor, at ease with before his new play, Design for Living, opened on Broadway. A decade earlier, the rising actor had earned his first American writing fee, from V.F., for a parody of royal memoirs. November 1932.
Charlie Chaplin—the actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and century’s most influential comedian—with hat and cane. October 1926.
Brother-and-sister dance act Adele and Fred Astaire, dancing at the Trocadero nightclub. July 1925.
The stunning and modern Louise Brooks—free spirit, intellect, nightclub dancer, and transatlantic screen star—whose sexually charged work in prewar Germany scandalized Hollywood. January 1929.
