Walery

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION From the Collection: Postcards portraying cross-dressing and female and male impersonators in France, Sweden, Austria, Spain, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, Italy, and Romania. Postcards include photographic and photomechanical prints, some hand-colored. All are printed between circa 1900 and 1930 and depict performers on amateur, café-concert, music-hall, and legitimate stages at the high-point of cross-dressing as a form of entertainment. Many depict gallant visual narratives of...

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Historical scene showing Joan of Arc telling the dauphin of France that he will be crowned king at Reims. As is conventional for iconography of Joan during her period of combat, she wears men's clothing in this case, an elaborate doublet and riding boots. Conversely, this image steps outside the convention by including a halberd-bearer accompanying Joan; the footsoldier is played by a male impersonator. Inscription: "Addressed to Lucien Renault; signed "Ta soeurette [illegible]".

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Full set of 10 cards with photo narrative of an early 19th-century seduction scene. Postcards numbered 1-10, each with a one- to two-sentence narrative.

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Marise Fairy in the role of Buster Brown from the Revue de Marigny, a music-hall show presented at the Theatre de Marigny in Paris.

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Gaby Deslys wearing the costume of a 17th-century male aristocrat.