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Eduard Uhlenhuth (1853-1919)

Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh [in Portraits of Royal Children Vol.38 1889-1890] Oct 1889

Albumen print mounted on album page | 13.7 x 8.8 cm (image) | RCIN 2904829

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  • Victorians used dressing up for entertainment purposes, but also as a means of exploring their own identity along with other cultures. Central to the donning of non-western attire was their perception that such clothing revealed ethnic origin and established a sense of cultural belonging. Assuming various national identities through elaborate costumes, the wearers would often commission a portrait and distribute it to their immediate circle. Thus the photographic studio was transformed into a space for fantasy, offering a variety of backdrops and props as well as a comprehensive costume box. During the second half of the nineteenth century, sitting for and exchanging fancy dress photographic portraits became extremely popular amongst the British upper and middle classes, including the royal family.

    This playful photograph of Princess Alexandra, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was taken in Coburg by the German court photographer Eduard Uhlenhuth. As part of a wider group of portraits depicting the four daughters of Prince Alfred in guise, the photograph is pasted on an album page in volume 38 of Queen Victoria’s Portraits of Royal Children, a series of 44 albums featuring photographs of her descendants from the mid-1840s to the late 1890s. The series was particularly important to the queen, and it is therefore likely that Prince Alfred presented the resulting images to her with the albums in mind.

    In this image, Princess Alexandra appears in a striped kimono-style garment tied with a sash, a floral paper fan in her right hand. Although the attire would have seemed convincingly Japanese to many of her contemporaries, the princess's bloomers and slippers belie her adopted persona. Equally, her cross-legged position is at odds with the more usual Japanese kneeling position. This dissonance of both clothing and pose demonstrates the shaky understanding of Japanese culture in mid-nineteenth-century Europe. Yet, the allure of the kimono persisted.

    In 1889, when the sitting took place, the Japanese had abolished the kimono as official court attire because its traditional associations hindered Japan’s new image as a modern country. In reality, the adoption of western clothing in the Meiji period was mainly limited to men, and only in the public sphere of urban areas. For westerners, the kimono was reminiscent of a nostalgic ideal of Japan and, as it continued to be worn by many Japanese women, it became associated with feminine beauty and elegance. It is easy to view this symbolism, along with the duke’s well-recorded fascination with Japan, as a decisive factor in his daughter’s portrayal in a kimono.

    Text adapted from Japan: Courts and Culture (2020)

    Provenance

    Probably presented to Queen Victoria by Prince Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, 1889

  • Medium and techniques

    Albumen print mounted on album page

    Measurements

    13.7 x 8.8 cm (image)

    30.5 x 24.0 cm (page dimensions)


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