ABSTRACT
Our project represents a series of enlarged photographs of Victorian drag c.1860–90s. Through the act of enlarging such images, which originally came in pocket-sized carte-de-visite format, we draw attention to the overpainting technique used to amend the bodies of these men impersonating women. We are interested in the manner in which the material applications of paint added to the prints’ surfaces in various ways work so as to add a further theatrical layer to an existing nineteenth-century performance of gender. “Overpainting” – a term used to encapsulate a range of colouring and retouching techniques – developed a strong commercial market immediately following the invention of black and white photography in 1839. Our contribution pursues a performative form of historical knowledge – exploring some of these material, temporal and spatial intersections as they play out across this particular set of photographs, the critical act of enlarging them today and the undocumented history of female colourists practice.
