Female Impersonator: Vicki in a Sequined Gown

A dramatic full-length studio portrait of Vicki, a female impersonator posing on an platform with four moderne columns. She wears a halter-neck fully sequined evening gown with train and white opera gloves with ruffs at the top; a dark feather boa is draped over her outstretched arms. The off-stage identity of the performer remains to be established. The portrait was made by a theatrical studio in Preston, a provincial U.K. city in Lancashire.

AUTOGRAPH: In black ink in lower third of recto: "My Best Wishes / Vicki".

PROVENANCE: Collection of British writer James Gardiner, author of Who's a Pretty Boy, Then? One Hundred and Fifty Years (truncated) of Gay Life in Pictures (London: Serpent's Tail, 1998) and other works on LGBTQ vernacular photography.

NOTE: Vintage bromide print on grained paper; studio blind stamp to outside lower corner: "Debrons"; rubber stamp on verso: "DEBRONS / THEATRICAL PHOTOGRAPHERS / ADELPHI CHAMBERS / FYLDE STREET, PRESTON."

Minor wear & slight creasing to margins; light dent to outside upper corner; verso slightly yellowed & soiled; one light spot (0.5 cm diameter) to verso. (Inventory #: 0006)