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Alla Nazimova as Hedda Gabler
Napoleon Sarony
1907
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Born in Quebec, then part of the British colony of Lower Canada, Napoleon Sarony moved to New York in 1836 to work as an illustrator. He later cofounded a photography firm in 1843. When his wife died in 1858, he left the firm and traveled across Europe in search of a new creative community and more artistic training. He spent time with his brother Oliver, a famed photographer, in Scarborough, England, before opening his own studio in Birmingham. He returned to New York in 1866. Over the course of his lifetime, Sarony photographed Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, William T. Sherman, Mark Twain, and countless other luminaries in theater, politics, and literature.
Postcards, such as this image of the actress as Cleopatra, advertised Sarah Bernhardt’s celebrated performances for global audiences. Born Henriette-Rosine Bernard to a Jewish courtesan of Dutch…
In her grace, an awe-inspiring woman musters a holy and treasured people,
Each dawn and each evening she gives me recompense,
She is my bow and she is my sword and in her my heart is redeemed.
She is…
Though construction ended in 1888 after eight years, the neo-Byzantine and Moorish revival Grand Choral Synagogue in St. Petersburg was not consecrated until 1893. The grand, imposing building, which…