Artwork
Guy Little Theatrical Photograph
Guy Little Theatrical Photograph is a photographic photography by the Impressionist artist Alfred Ellis. It dates from 1890 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
About this work
This photograph is from 1890.
It shows Geraldine Ulmar as Marton in La Cigale.
The photo was made into 'cartes de visite' or 'cabinet cards', which were popular collectibles at the time, often featuring actors and actresses in costume, and were a key way for people to get pictures of their favorite performers.
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Overview
The image is an 1890 photographic portrait of American soprano Geraldine Ulmar in the role of Marton from the operetta La Cigale, performed at London’s Lyric Theatre. Produced as a collectible image, it exemplifies the Victorian practice of distributing actors’ likenesses through small-format prints that could be exchanged and displayed.
Subject & Meaning
Ulmar is depicted in full theatrical costume, embodying the character Marton, a central figure in La Cigale’s narrative. The portrait serves both as a promotional likeness for the production and as a personal souvenir for admirers, reflecting the era’s fascination with celebrity and the desire to possess a tangible connection to the stage.
Technique & Style
The photograph was created as an albumen print from a glass negative, a standard method of the period. It was mounted on a stiff card, either as a carte de visite—approximately the size of a visiting card—or as a larger cabinet card, both formats featuring the photographer’s imprint on the backing.
History & Provenance
The print originated in a sizable collection of cartes de visite and cabinet cards that were later removed from their original backs and bound into albums by solicitor Guy Tristram Little (d. 1953). Little, a collector of ephemera and executor of theatre patron Gabrielle Enthoven, bequeathed the assembled albums to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Context
During the 1860s and 1870s, cartes de visite became a fashionable pastime, with millions produced for portraiture, scenery, and artworks. By the late 1870s cabinet cards supplanted them, offering a larger, more durable format until postcards and studio portraits eclipsed both in the 1890s.
Artist & collection
Artist
Alfred Ellis spent most of his career in a cramped studio above a London tailor’s shop, the smell of wool clinging to his camera lenses.
