Yolande Wallace, from the Actresses series (N668)
Unknown Artist
ca. 1888
Medium
Albumen photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 3 3/4 × 2 1/16 in. (9.5 × 5.2 cm)
Classification
Photographs|Ephemera
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Gift of Jefferson R. Burdick
Accession Number
Burdick 230, N668.115
Tags
Art Historical Context
This petite albumen photograph, titledYolande Wallace, the Actresses series (668)*, captures the poised elegance of a late 19th-century actress a format that was both intimate and collectible. Measuring just 3 3/4 × 2 1/16 inches, it exemplifies the ephemera of the era—small, affordable portraits akin to cartes-de-visite that fans traded like trading cards. Produced around 1888 by an unknown artist, the image highlights Wallace's striking features, evoking the glamour of Victorian theater. Albumen prints, made by coating paper with egg whites sensitized to silver salts, were the gold standard...