Katharine Cornell
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Object Details
- Date
- 1941
- Artist
- Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 19 Nov 1895 - 11 Dec 1989
- Sitter
- Katharine Cornell, 16 Feb 1893 - 12 Jun 1974
- Exhibition Label
- Born Berlin, Germany
- Often called “the First Lady of the Theater,” Katharine Cornell’s breakthrough came in 1919, when she played Jo March in the first London production of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. Cornell went on to take leading roles in a broad range of productions, with critics writing that whenever she stepped onto a stage, “something electric happened.” Even when she was cast in a lackluster piece, her performance could leave audiences with the illusion that the play had been far better than it was. Among her most celebrated roles was Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Rudolf Besier’s The Barretts of Wimpole Street, which premiered on Broadway in 1931. As one reviewer enthused, Cornell’s acting was “as remarkable for the carefulness of its design as for the fire of her presence.”
- The fashion photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe photographed Cornell in costume for her part in George Bernard Shaw’s The Doctor’s Dilemma (1906), which Cornell produced in 1941.
- Nacida en Berlín, Alemania
- Llamada con frecuencia “la primera dama del teatro”, Katharine Cornell tuvo su primer éxito importante en 1919 con el papel de Jo March en la primera producción londinense de Mujercitas, de Louisa May Alcott. Luego protagonizó una amplia gama de producciones y la crítica comentaba que cada vez que pisaba el escenario “sucedía algo electrizante”. Incluso si el drama era mediocre, su actuación daba al público la ilusión de que la obra era mucho mejor. Entre sus papeles más celebrados estuvo el de Elizabeth Barrett Browning en Los Barretts de la calle Wimpole, de Rudolf Besier, estrenada en Broadway en 1931. Como escribió entusiasmado un crítico, la actuación de Cornell fue “excepcional, tanto por su cuidada construcción como por el fuego de su presencia”.
- La fotógrafa de modas Louise Dahl-Wolfe retrató a Cornell vestida para su papel en El dilema del doctor (1906) de George Bernard Shaw, que la actriz produjo en 1941.
- Topic
- Interior
- Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair
- Costume\Jewelry\Bracelet
- Katharine Cornell: Female
- Katharine Cornell: Performing Arts\Performer\Actor\Stage actor
- Katharine Cornell: Performing Arts\Producer\Theater producer
- Portrait
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- Data Source
- National Portrait Gallery
- Object number
- NPG.87.45
- Type
- Photograph
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Copyright
- © Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image: 28.1 × 27.1 cm (11 1/16 × 10 11/16")
- Sheet: 35.4 × 28.1 cm (13 15/16 × 11 1/16")
- Mat: 71.1 × 55.9 cm (28 × 22")
- Metadata Usage
- Usage conditions apply
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.87.45