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Item Number: 116316
Title: The First Actresses : From Nell Gwyn to Sarah Siddons
Author: Perry, Gill (et al)
Price: Not Available
ISBN: 9780472118274
Description: London: National Portrait Gallery, 2011. 29cm., hardcover, 160pp., 120 color and b&w illus. Exhibition catalogue. Summary: Women first appeared on the legitimate public stage in England following the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, which heralded a major change in British theatre. This fascinating book explores the lives and achievements of these first actresses through studies of some of their most vivid portraits. Written to accompany the National Portrait Gallery's exhibition The First Actresses: Nell Gwyn to Sarah Siddons, it examines the vibrant relationship between art and theatre in England in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the remarkable visibility of some of its best-known stars. It considers how actresses such as Nell Gwyn, Kitty Clive, Mary Robinson, Dorothy Jordan, Giovanna Baccelli and Sarah Siddons achieved fame and notoriety, and explores the important role played by painted portraits, mass reproduced prints and graphic satire. In a series of four essays, this book reassesses the often controversial relationship between art, gender and the theatre, and the traditional association between the actress and the prostitute. The authors show how women performers in drama, as well as music and dance, were key figures within a spectacular celebrity culture that emerged during the eighteenth century. They explore the ways in which actresses and critics used portraiture to enhance their reputations and professional status, and provide a lively analysis of the 'feminine face' of eighteenth-century celebrity culture, suggesting interesting parallels with modern-day 'star systems'. Illustrated with reproductions of compelling, large-scale works combined with smaller, more intimate portraits, this book provides a vivid spectacle of eighteenth-century femininity, fashion and theatricality.
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