Courtesy of the Harn Museum of Art, Photography by Foad Seyed Mohammadi

Untitled (actress in costume holding two dolls)

Maker Reutlinger Studio, Paris

Datec. 1904

MediumGelatin silver print, enhanced with glitter

Dimensions5 × 3 1/4 in. (12.7 × 8.3 cm)

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Pat and Jack Nichelson Estate

Object number2019.24.29

On View

Not on view

Collections

PHOTOGRAPHY

DescriptionTheatrical cabinet card or postcard portrait of an actress. "Scala" is printed in upper right; may refer to the woman's name, as in other Ruetlinger portraits, or to "La Scala" Opera House. She wears a hand-tinted costume and hat, and holds two dolls, embellished with glitter. The Reutlinger Studio in Paris, under Leopold-Emile, was known for pioneering erotic and celebrity photography at the turn of the century into the 1930s, with unusual art nouveu-styled postcard designs, especially of opera singers and actresses. "The much-collected postcards were not cheaply produced, nor cheaply sold."