Portrait of Mrs NASH DUBONNET with her mother and son
Photography
Inventory number
2022.11.9.6.PH.FA.1934.USAuthor:
ACME Newspictures (American, 1923 - 1952)Description
Press photograph representing Jean NASH DUBONNET (born Jean GAZLAY DONALDSON (1893-1956)) known as the "Best Dressed Woman" accompanied by her mother Emma Jane GAZLAY (1855-1951) and her son Andrew KIRWAN DONALDSON (1910-1973). The photo was taken on april 2, 1934, after the deliberation of the jurors, at the end of the trial where Andrew KIRWAN DONALDSON was tried for the murder of Gilliam SESSOMS.Mrs DUBONNET is wearing a long astrakhan fur coat, over a white collared dress. She holds in her right hand a small rectangular bag and a pair of gloves. She wears a small brimless hat. Her son Andrew wears a dark colored business suit over a white shirt tied with a thin tie. Andrew's grandmother, Emma, wears a wool coat, with a light colored scarf over the shoulder. She holds a rectangular handbag in her hand, as well as a pair of gloves. The grandmother is wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
Andrew KIRWAN DONALDSON was born on October 29, 1910 in New York. He is the first son of Jean GAZLAY DONALDSON, born from his first marriage to John Stanislaus KIRWAN (1891-1921) son of a wealthy New York real estate developer. He was afflicted with a form of infantile paralysis. He could not control his muscles, and he could not write. Numerous newspapers carried the story of Andrew’s trial for the stabbing death of Gilliam SESSOMS with a hunting knife following a drunken argument over religion. The alleged event occurred on 10 February 1934 while they were sailing on the SS President Garfield from Europe. SESSOMS died a few days after the ship docked in New York. The defense maintained that SESSOMS fell on the knife after a sudden pitch of the ship. On 2 April 1934, the jury took only twenty-seven minutes to return a not guilty verdict.
The story was newsworthy in part because of the presence during the trial of his mother, Jean NASH DUBONNET (and at her side, Jean's husband: Paul DUBONNET, France's famed maker of aperitifs) who captivated the attention of the media and public in the 1920s as a leader of high fashion in Europe.
Material
Analog photographyOrigin
April 5 1934 New York, United StatesDimensions
Length : 17 cmHeight : 23 cm