ALLA NAZIMOVA [1917-40] Photo archive

Np: Various, [1917-1940] Set of 7 vintage original black-and-white single and double weight silver gelatin photos: five 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm) and two 5 x 7″ (13 x 18 cm).  Overall very good+.

• Nazimova in Ception Shoals (1917) at the Princess Theatre;
• A youthful portrait;
• Photo of Nazimova’s return to the US from Europe in 1925;
• Visiting Jetta Goudal at DeMille Studios in 1925;
• Portrait for a later version of Hedda Gabler;
• Nazimova working with George Cukor and Albert Lewin in 1938 on Zaza;
• MGM studio portrait by László Willinger from 1940.

Alla Nazimova (1879-1945) was a Russian-born American actress, director, producer and screenwriter. Hailed by modern scholars as the “founding mother of Sapphic Hollywood”, Nazimova was a celebrated nonconformist artist who appeared in more than 20 films. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures of early 20th-century theater and silent cinema.

Trained at the Moscow Art Theatre under Konstantin Stanislavski, Nazimova rose to international fame for her intense, psychologically driven performances and for introducing modern acting techniques to American audiences. On Broadway, she was noted for her work in the classic plays of Ibsen, Chekhov and Turgenev. After achieving major success on Broadway in the 1910s, Nazimova became one of the highest-paid actresses in the United States and transitioned to silent films, where she exercised an unusual degree of creative control. Through her independent production company, she produced and starred in visually experimental adaptations of literary classics, including Camille(1921), A Doll’s House (1922), and Salomé (1923). (Wikipedia)