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Abstract
The struggle to have acting recognized as a reputable profession and a legitimate art form was a dominant feature in both written and theatrical discourse of the late nineteenth century. Concurrently, this period saw an increasing emphasis on offstage portraits, which depicted the actor behind the scenes. This article will examine how, through their visual content, and as collectible objects, these images contributed to the legitimization of acting by presenting it as a concrete profession, highlighting influential figures and visually aligning actors with artists, other professional luminaries, and the leisured classes who frequented the fashionable theatres of the West End.
Notes
1 Irving, ‘The Art of Acting’, 90.
2 West, Image of the Actor, 28, 26, 2.
3 The Woodburytype process was an easy and relatively cheap way of producing photographic prints, invented in 1864, that – owing to its economical nature – facilitated the introduction of photographs into books and periodicals in the later nineteenth century. See Hannavy, Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, 1510–12.
4 Mayer, ‘The Actress as Photographic Icon’, 79–80.
5 West, Image of the Actor, 26.
6 West, Image of the Actor, 29.
7 Mayer, ‘The Actress as Photographic Icon’, 83.
8 Ibid., 78.
9 Perry, The First Actresses, 16, 21.
10 Stoker, Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving, viii.
11 Morley ‘A Dramatic Institute’, 76.
12 For a discussion of professionalism as a key element in Victorian ideals of masculinity, see Adams, Dandies and Desert Saints, 6–8.
13 Baker, The Rise of the Victorian Actor, 158.
14 Morley, ‘A Dramatic Institute’, 77.
15 Shannon, The Cut of His Coat, 174
16 Fitzgerald, The World Behind the Scenes, 213.
17 Whitfield, ‘Preface’.
18 Vann and VanArsdel, Victorian Periodicals, 5.
19 Pemberton, John Hare: Comedian, 49.
20 Rugg, Picturing Ourselves, 51–3.
21 Cohen, Household Gods, 122–5.
22 Yates, Celebrities at Home, vol. 1, 61–2.
23 Cohen, Household Gods, 122.
24 Newnes, The Strand, vol. 1, 45.
25 Codell, The Victorian Artist, 46.
26 Yates, Celebrities at Home, vol. 2, 65, 76.
27 Ibid., 70–1.
28 Ibid., 148
29 Vann and VanArsdel, Victorian Periodicals, 141.
30 Newnes, The Strand, vol. 4, 514, 516; vol. 7, 252, 253; vol. 10, 280, 282.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Helen Margaret Walter
Helen Walter received her PhD in History of Design from the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum, where her research focused on the intersections of body, dress and performance in the images of late-nineteenth-century actor-managers. After a BA in Classics (University of Cambridge) and then two years working in theatre wardrobe, Helen did her MA at the Courtauld Institute of Art in History of Dress (2008/9). She was the joint holder of the CHODA bursary, and wrote her MA dissertation on the dress of female Alpinists c.1838–1914. She is the Treasurer of the Association of Dress Historians, and works with the collections at the Blandford Fashion Museum. She also teaches Critical Studies at the University for the Creative Arts, Epsom and Design Cultures at the University of Plymouth.