Theda Bara

Inscriptions

Verso: Upper left, printed in black ink on white label, "Please return Kobal Collection 38 Drayton Court Drayton Gardens London SW10 9RH Telephone: 01-373 9366" / Upper right, in graphite, "Theda Bara in garden of her home" / Right margin, typed in black ink on white label, "Theda Bara - demurely dressed by modern standards, standing by a well in a garden, probably in her own home. At that period, circa 1918, she looked absolutely staggering, so foreign, exotic, as if something from the occult world with that pale white skin, those blood red lips and the heavily kohl-rimmed eyes denoting a world-weary langueur. For a time in the teens she was all the rage, nobody cared how ludicrous the stories or her acting was because of the power of her personality and her flagrant embodiement of undiluted carnal sexuality. In fact she was none of those things, a jewish girl from Cincinatti who'd appeared on the stage before entering film. 28 years old when this picture was taken, her career was over by 1919. She married the english-born director of many of her films, Charles Brabin, and when comebacks failed she retired from films to take up an active life in Los Angeles society." / Lower left, in graphite, "By Hoover Art Studios"

Provenance

John Kobal Foundation Limited, London, England; sold to present collection, 2019.

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Subjects