Steichen dancing - terpsichorean portraits by Edward Steichen, 1924-36

 

The De Marcos (Antonio and Renée De Marco), 1935.

Fred and Adele Astaire, 1925.

Clifton Webb and Irene Castle, 1933.

Marjorie Moss and Georges Fontana, circa 1928.

The De Marcos, 1935.

Maurice Mouvet and Barbara Bennett, 1925.

Grace and Paul Hartman Dancing #1, 1936.

Grace and Paul Hartman Dancing #2, 1936.

Grace and Paul Hartman Dancing #3, 1936.

Grace and Paul Hartman Dancing #4, 1936.

Marjorie Moss and Georges Fontana, 1925.

Veloz and Yolanda (Frank Veloz and Yolanda Casazza), 1930.

Clifton Webb and Irene Castle, 1933.

Fred and Adele Astaire, 1925.

The De Marcos, 1935.

Maurice Mouvet and Leonore Hughes, 1924. 

To and from fame - Irene Castle and Clifton Webb, photographed for Vogue by Edward Steichen, 1933

 

Webb before he was Waldo Lydecker, Castle after she was "and Vernon."

Between 1909, when he was not yet twenty, and 1944, when he became an Oscar-nominated movie star with his performance in "Laura", Webb had a successful career as a song-and-dance man in light comedies and musicals, mostly on Broadway. He also appeared in a handful of silent films. After the death of Vernon Castle in 1918, his widow continued her film career for four more years, eventually married three more times, became a fashion and society columnist as well as a staunch animal-rights activist, but by 1929 had mostly retired from dancing.

*

Here, in the essay written for Vogue by Webb, himself, he laments the current state of ballroom dancing.

*

Though I was unable to find any further information, it appears that Castle and Webb had paired up before. 

Here, a photograph captioned "Paris, 1922", though I wonder if it wasn't taken slightly later.