Lot Essay
Born in Germany in 1898 and raised in New York, Katherine Cornell earned the nickname 'The First Lady of the American Theater' honouring a career spanning 30 years on the stage. In 1948 Cornell won Broadway's Tony Award for Best Dramatic Actress for her role as Cleopatra in a revival of William Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra'.
According to Joanna Steichen: 'Steichen had much in common with the successful actors he photographed....[He] had great respect for the actors who, like Katherine Cornell, fully inhabited their roles and seemed simply to become the characters they played' (Steichen's Legacy,pp.323-33).
According to Joanna Steichen: 'Steichen had much in common with the successful actors he photographed....[He] had great respect for the actors who, like Katherine Cornell, fully inhabited their roles and seemed simply to become the characters they played' (Steichen's Legacy,pp.323-33).