#silver print

Karyl Norman, female impersonator, “The Creole Fashion Plate”

Silver Print • 1923

Karyl Norman (né George Francis Peduzzi), was a female impersonator who was popular on the vaudeville, nightclub, and Broadway stage. He wrote many of his own songs, and was known for his sumptuous gowns (made by his mother). Norman was a key figure in what was then called "the Pansy Craze," a period of increased underground popularity of drag performers (then called "pansy performers") in popular culture. Norman performed at The Pansy Club, part of the burgeoning underground gay subculture.

Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), Ina Claire Holding Roses.

Untitled - Edward J. Woolsey (1869)

Gelatin Silver Print, "The Mirror" C.1940s