Spectacular Flirtations: Viewing the Actress in British Art and Theater, 1768-1820

by Gill Perry

Overview

During the Georgian period there was a remarkable proliferation of seductive visual imagery and written accounts of female performers. Focusing on the close relationship between the dramatic and visual arts at this time, this beautiful and stimulating book explores popular ideas of the actress as coquette, whore, celebrity, muse, and creative agent, charting her important symbolic role in contemporary attempts to professionalize both the theatre and the practice of fine art. Gill Perry shows how artists such as Gainsborough, Reynolds, Hoppner or Lawrence produced complex images of female performers as fashion icons, coquettes, dignified queens or creative artists. The result is a rich interdisciplinary study of the Georgian actress.

Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300135442
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	03/19/2008
Series:	Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art S
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gill Perry is professor of art history at the Open University.

Editorial Reviews

Perry (art history, Open Univ.) reveals the haunts of Covent Gardens and Drury Lane in 18th-century Georgian London to provide a complex view of women on the stage in a society torn between the notion of uplifting performances and the perception that the theater was a "lower-class carnival." Celebrated actresses such as Sarah Siddons, Mrs. Robinson, and Kitty Fisher were represented by equally celebrated portrait painters including Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Lawrence, and Thomas Gainsborough, and their relationship established a visual connection between the theater and the arts. The society and the stage were reflected in humorous, scathing caricature by noted illustrators of the day, such as James Gilray, whose print La Belle Assemblée depicted an overweight actress in competition with members of Parliament. Running throughout the book are the ongoing themes of "flirtation" and "coquette," which are given multifaceted definition in the portrayal of this stratified society. A fascinating angle on this historical period, with a plethora of illustrations, many in color, this book satisfies all scholarly requirements while still being a good read. It is highly recommended for women's studies, theater, and the visual arts collections in university, special, and large public libraries.
—Ellen Bates

Library Journal