ORIGINAL PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPH OF ETHEL WATERS

Book Description

[New York. 28 August 1938].. Original borderless gelatin silver print, with semi-matte finish, 8 x 10 inches (25.2 x 20.2 cm). Photographer's blindstamp in lower left corner; Atelier stamp and negative number ("IXN:26" in green ink in Van Vechten's hand on verso), minor bump at one corner, otherwise about fine. A fine portrait of the woman acknowledged as one of the most influential of all jazz and blues singers, often credited as the first African American "superstar." The image dates from the end of the decade that saw her triumphs at the Cotton Club, her Broadway successes (notably CABIN IN THE SKY), and her role as the first African American to star in a commercial coast-to-coast radio show. In this photograph, Waters has donned a narrow brimmed, short crowned hat with a feather and a daisy inserted in the hatband, has her fists on her hips, and is gazing off camera to her left, with a full smile. The Library of Congress Van Vechten collection includes at least four other images dating from the same sitting, but this image is not among those in the LC image database of the collection.

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