Bloch was born in Tarnów in Austria-Hungary"s kingdom of Galicia & Lodomeria (now Tarnów, Poland), because her mother Charlotte returned from New York City to give birth on 18 December 1897. Stella was brought up on East 54th Street in Manhattan with her mother. Her aunt and uncle, Bernard and Pauline Offner and her cousins Richard and Mortimer Offner.
She headlined as a dancer in Rochester, New New York She also worked as an artist and her work is in several collections. Bloch was said to have been the first student in America of Isadora Duncan"s six dancers who were known as the Isadorables.
She met Ananda Coomaraswamy who took her to India at the age of 17.
She spent some time in India. She spent a year learning Javanese dancing at the palace of the Prince of Solo in Surakarta in Java.
Bloch also started using her journalist and artistic skills by sketching the dancers at the Art Students League in New New York Bloch demonstrated her dancing in America.
She was at the top of the bill at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New New York
Bloch became Coomaraswamy"s third wife in 1922. The book was able to compare the different dance heritages of eastern as well as western cultures because she had studied them whilst touring not only Java but also India, Bali, Cambodia, China and Japan. During the 1920s she sketched and painted scenes as part of the Harlem Renaissance which also included portraits of Bessie Smith, Josephine Baker and Thelonious Monk.
She had been based in New York and he was working at the Boston Museum of Art so they had not been living in the same city.
He was a successful writer of songs for films. Bloch was still dancing and visiting venues like the Cotton Club.
She learnt the Charleston from Elida Webb and her performances were well received. She had exhibited her artwork in New York and she now had exhibitions in California.
They both worked in the film industry until the House Committee on Un-American Activities named her husband.
This ended his career in the film and later in the television industry. Hepburn was a collector of Bloch"s work. She had two sons, David and Peter.
Whilst she was living in Connecticut she wrote a play about Isadora Duncan but it is not known if and where it was performed.
Bloch"s artwork was used in 1989 when she created the logo for the Broadway production of the Black and Blue musical. Her husband died in 1998.
Bloch died in Bethel, Connecticut, on 20 January 1999 aged 101. The New York Public Library and the University of Harvard have an extensive collection of her papers.
George Cukor and Katharine Hepburn were collectors of Bloch"s work.
