This image features an attractive actress playing Madame Butterfly in a 1909 production. The preceding information comes from an inscription on the reverse of the photograph. The photographer is Hans Wanderer and his studio was located in Klagenfurt, Austria. Madam Butterfly is an opera by Giacomo Puccini. The story was originally written by James Long (1898). David Belasco dramatized the story for theater. The operatic version of Madame Butterfly premiered in Milan, Italy in 1904.
MADAME BUTTERFLY IN KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA
MADAME BUTTERFLY AND HER SIDEKICK
This Cabinet Card is an image of two very interestingly dressed young women. Are they going to a costume party or are they just making a fashion statement? Madame Butterfly has butterflies affixed all over herself. She has butterflies atop her head, as well as on her chest, skirt and shoes. Is that a butterfly purse she is holding? The second woman is wearing gloves and holding a cane. She also has an interesting rope belt and an unusual necklace and hat. The photographer of the cabinet card is likely the Baker Art Gallery located on the corner of State and High Streets in Columbus, Ohio. The studio was founded by Lorenzo Marvin Baker who began working as a photographer in the early 1860’s and established the Baker Art Gallery in 1886. Four generations of the family ran the gallery until 1955. Many of their photographs and materials are now held by the Ohio Historical Society. To view other photographs by Baker, click on the category “Photographer: Baker Art Gallery”.
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 