Portrait, Arts, Theater, French Actresses, Antique Photographs, Paris, c. 1900

Xavier Privas was a popular French songwriter of the 1890s. There is a street named after him on the Left Bank in Paris.

Caroline “La Belle” Otero (1868-1965) was a Spanish-born dancer and courtesan of the Belle Epoque, romantically linked with King Edward VII and other wealthy and powerful men. Emilienne D’Alencon (1869-?) was an actress and dancer who also was the subject of Lautrec’s paintings and drawings.

Lona Barrison was one of the five Barrison sisters, whose act featured risqué humor and outfits. They wore white petticoats when singing the bawdy song “Meine Kleine Katze.” Toulouse-Lautrec drew them in “Mrs. Lona Barrison avec son manager et epoux.”

Emma Calve (1858-1942) was a dramatic French soprano singer renowned for her interpretation of Carmen, who chronicled her career in the autobiographies “My Life” (1922) and “Sous tous les ciels j’ai chante” (1940).

Condition: Generally good, very good, or better, with the usual toning overall, some with a few scuffs, scratches, tears & creases, light foxing, age-lightening or ink marks to the surface of the prints. Photo or card edges generally lightly worn.

References:

Schimmel, Herbert D., ed. The Letters of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Oxford University Press, 1991, pp. 320-21 and 293.

Uglow, Jennifer S. “Caroline Otero.” Macmillan Dictionary of Women’s Biography, 1999. Online at http://www.xrefer.com/entry/360548.