The Art of the Actress: Fashioning Identities

Laura Engel

doi:10.1017/9781108973519

Series: Elements in Eighteenth-Century Connections

The Art of the Actress

Fashioning Identities

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2024

Laura Engel

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Laura Engel: Affiliation:
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh

Summary

This Element looks at the art of the actress in the eighteenth century. It considers how visual materials across genres, such as prints, portraits, sculpture, costumes, and accessories, contribute to the understanding of the nuances of female celebrity, fame, notoriety, and scandal. The 'art' of the actress refers to the actress represented in visual art, as well as to the actress's labor and skill in making art ephemerally through performance and tangibly through objects. Moving away from the concept of the 'actress as muse,' a relationship that privileges the role of the male artist over the inspirational subject, the author focuses instead on the varied significance of representations, reproductions, and re-animations of actresses, female artists, and theatrical women across media. Via case studies, the Element explores how the archive charts both a familiar and at times unknown narrative about female performers of the past.

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actresses eighteenth century female artists portraits fashion

Type: Element
Information: Series: Elements in Eighteenth-Century Connections

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108973519 [Opens in a new window]

Online ISBN: 9781108973519

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication: 08 February 2024

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The Art of the Actress

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