Lady Diana Cooper (Primary Title)
Man Ray, American, 1890 - 1976 (Artist)
The glamorous film and stage actress Lady Diana Cooper (1892–1986) was born Diana Olivia Winifred Maud Manners in Belvoir Castle, a stately home in the English county of Leicestershire. In June 1919, she married the English politician and diplomat Alfred “Duff” Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich. Lady Diana Cooper starred in several silent movies, including the 1922 British color film The Glorious Adventure and the 1923 historical drama The Virgin Queen, in which she portrayed Queen Elizabeth I. She received critical acclaim for her role as the nun in the Broadway revival of The Miracle, which became an overnight success after it debuted at New York’s Century Theater in 1924. By the time Man Ray photographed her in Paris, Lady Diana Cooper was an international celebrity, and her decision to pose with her shoulders and upper chest bare was in keeping with her desire to be liberated from the restrictive nature of her aristocratic upbringing.
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