Duality and the Mask in Eighteenth-Century Actress Portraits

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorEvans, Janeen_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-08-14T19:03:49Zen_US
dc.date.available2015-08-14T19:03:49Zen_US
dc.date.issued2015en_US
dc.descriptionHonorable Mention winner of the Friends of Fondren Library Graduate Research Awards, 2015en_US
dc.description.abstractTheatrical masks in portraits of eighteenth-century actresses signify more than the figure’s profession. Multiple masks in a single composition and the figure’s active engagement with these plastic, yet eerily human objects suggest a more complex relationship between the theatrical mask and portraiture. Many scholars have examined eighteenth-century British actress portraits as tools by which the sitter elevated her reputation and distanced herself from associations with prostitution. Yet the presence of the theatrical mask in portraits by Joshua Reynolds, John Hoppner, and William Beechey, for example, has received no critical attention. Quantity, placement, and interaction between actress and object indicate metaphorical significance and demand examination. I argue the mask acts as a marker of duality and potential deception, becoming the locus for anxieties within the sister arts of theatre and painting. Artistic and dramatic theorists were in the process of codifying each medium based upon strict categories and dichotomies. Yet the actress’s proclivity for deception spilled onto the canvas, requiring artistic intervention. As such, the mask was a site of artistic and social anxiety, where gender norms, aesthetic principles, and power relations were visually negotiated.en_US
dc.identifier.citationEvans, Jane. "Duality and the Mask in Eighteenth-Century Actress Portraits." (2015) Rice University: <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/81431">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/81431</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/81431en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherRice Universityen_US
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/en_US
dc.subjectArt Historyen_US
dc.titleDuality and the Mask in Eighteenth-Century Actress Portraitsen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.genreResearch paperen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Evans-Essay.pdf
Size:
137.69 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Evans-Paper.pdf
Size:
1.8 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Evans-Bibliography.pdf
Size:
172.41 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
Collections
Friends of Fondren Library Research Awards