The Enigma of the artificial life on stage: Walter Sickert’s 'Minnie Cunningham at the Old Bedford' (1892)

Depicting singer and dancer Minnie Cunningham performing on stage, Minnie Cunningham at the Old Bedford (1892) is part of Sickert’s repertoire of artworks focussed on the social vibrance and dynamism of London’s music halls. Strikingly, however, the sole focus of the painting is on Minnie herself – with no audience depicted, the viewer is brought into a closer, more personal relationship with the subject. It is this relationship that guides the painting; through his use of colour and composition, Sickert succeeds in a heightened portrayal of Minnie. Rather than simply being a study of a music hall performer, Sickert presents what one contemporary reviewer referred to as ‘the enigma of the artificial life on stage’.[1] The theatrical elements of Minnie Cunningham – such as her costume, the lighting, and the backdrop – are by definition ‘artificial’, contrasting with the inherent personality and intimacy behind her performance. Yet, Sickert strives to present Minnie in a more complex manner, emphasising the connection between the viewer and the subject. It is thus such an ‘enigma’ that Sickert captures, balancing the depiction of a public performance on stage with a deeply intimate portrait of a woman.

 

While Minnie’s red dress serves the practical function of highlighting her both within the painting and on the stage, Sickert employs it to emphasise Minnie’s qualities, using it to represent Minnie beyond the confines of her stage character and breaking away from its ‘artificial’ nature as a costume. In his biography of Sickert, Matthew Sturgis suggests that Sickert was ‘enchanted’ by Minnie, stating that it was possible that they had an affair.[2] Such enchantment is potentially reflected within Minnie Cunningham. The scene is dominated by the vivid red of Minnie’s dress and hat, mirroring the tones of the flowers on the left side of the scene, arguably serving to symbolise the passion, seduction, and lust present within Minnie’s audience, and possibly even within Sickert himself. The red hat acts as a foil for her face, depicted in profile, with her lower arm and hand existing starkly in contrast to the flowing drapery of her dress. The eye of the viewer is thus drawn to her physical form – and the beauty, elegance, and grace with which she performs. Sickert’s usage of colour draws attention to Minnie’s form, with her entire figure highlighted against the darker tones of the painted and ‘artificial’ background. With its painted fauna and fictive architectural detailing, the backdrop acts as a form of trompe l'oeil. A reviewer from the Daily Graphic described the subject as being in ‘a garden at night’, demonstrating the extent to which Sickert succeeds in breaking away from the inherent ‘artificial’ nature of the music hall.[3] Sickert duly balances the potentially ‘artificial’ and stilted nature of music halls with an intimate and personal depiction of Minnie, in turn reflecting the ‘enigma’ present within such performances and performers.

 

Whereas many of Sickert’s paintings of music halls, such as The P.S. Wings in an O.P. Mirror (1888 – 1889), depict a bustling auditorium surrounding the performer, Sickert presents Minnie within a tight composition. She is the sole figure within the painting, heightening the impact of the artwork. Sickert’s use of composition – such as the obstruction of Minnie’s feet, and her off-centre positioning on the canvas – adds to the realism and authenticity of the scene. Combined with the full-length depiction of the subject, with the stage and backdrop around her, the viewer is brought directly into the perspective of an audience member within the music hall. With the lack of stage depicted in front of Minnie, there is no physical barrier between her and the viewer – the perspective of the scene makes it almost appear as if one could reach out and touch her. The lack of an audience presented within the scene duly allows the viewer to take on the role of a member of the audience, while also bringing the viewer into a closer, more intimate experience of Minnie, further emphasising the ‘enigma’ present within music hall performances. In a similar way, William Rough comments that ‘the dynamic relationship between performer and audience was a vital part of the halls appeal’.[4] Minnie Cunningham could thus be considered as representing ‘the dynamic relationship’, with Sickert’s attempts to deepen the connection between Minnie and the viewer thus reflecting the ‘enigma’ present within music hall performances.

 

Anna Gruetzner Robins suggests that Minnie Cunningham is ‘a fetishistic image’.[5] Such a view is unconvincing – although Sickert breaks through the artificiality of the music hall stage and presents an intimate, unidealised representation of the subject, his depiction of Minnie is not ‘fetishistic’. Presumably depicted mid-performance, her feet are angled and her face is raised upwards, conveying a sense of natural authenticity to Sickert’s portrait. Sickert often explored dynamism and the act of movement within his art, with his 1894 portrait of Audrey Beardsley [Fig. 3] similarly presenting the subject in profile and mid-motion. As in his portrait of Beardsley, Sickert’s use of motion gives the subject an air of uncertainty and apprehension, presenting with realism the actuality of performing on stage. While aspects of Minnie Cunningham clearly contain somewhat idealised elements – such as the fall of light upon Minnie’s face and the lack of any present audience – Sickert’s depiction of Minnie herself is driven by his focus on depicting a single moment within her performance. The combination of the depiction of Minnie mid-movement with the tight composition of the scene provides Minnie Cunningham with a sense of realism and authenticity, somewhat countering Robins’ description of it as ‘fetishistic’. Although Sickert clearly conveys the glamour and elegance of Minnie’s performance and physicality, such a manner simply aids his effort to convey the life and energy on stage, countering the otherwise ‘artificial’ elements present within Minnie’s performance.

 

Reflecting on Sickert’s influences, Matthew Sturgis’ describes Minnie Cunningham at the Old Bedford as combining ‘the conventions of the Whistlerian portrait with the controversial glamour of the popular stage’[6]. The composition and broader style of Minnie Cunningham is clearly evocative of Whistler’s full-length portraiture, while Sickert also explores the balance between the glamourous and controversial elements of music halls and Victorian entertainment. However, Sturgis’ view potentially risks diminishing the impact that Degas – and his depictions of Parisian concert halls – had on Sickert. Café-Concert at Les Ambassadeurs (1876 – 1877) [Fig. 4], for instance, similarly presents a performer mid-performance in a red dress in front of a similar floral backdrop. Yet, it has a broader scope than Minnie Cunningham, depicting several performers on stage with an audience separating them from the viewer, bringing it closer to Sickert’s earlier depictions of music halls, such as the previously mentioned The P.S. Wings in an O.P. Mirror. However, within a few years of Minnie Cunningham, Sickert’s focus would turn to solely depicting members of the audience. Paintings such as The Gallery of the Old Bedford (1894 – 1895) cpresent the popular social appeal of music halls within contemporary life through their depictions of the audience – and could duly be seen to serve as foils to works like Minnie Cunningham, instead offering the viewer the perspective of the performer. However, with his focuses on capturing the atmosphere of either the broader music hall auditorium or the array of characters within the audience, Sickert’s works arguably lack the intimacy and directness seen within Minnie Cunningham.

 

Minnie Cunningham demonstrates Sickert’s success in capturing the ‘enigma’ of performances, balancing the potentially artificial aspects of the stage with deeply intimate studies of individual performers, fulfilling E.D.H. Johnson’s description of him as the ‘unrivalled artist-laureate’ of the Victorian music hall.[7] Through his use of colour and composition, Sickert breaks through the otherwise ‘artificial’ elements of the performance, presenting the personality and intimacy behind Minnie’s performance. However, while the manner of Minnie’s depiction is key, Sickert’s usage of the viewer is central to the painting; with no visible audience, the viewer is directly brought into the music hall and its environment, heightening the impact of Sickert’s depiction of the subject. Despite being a painting of a notionally public performance, Minnie Cunningham presents a direct and intimate representation of the subject, serving to emphasise the ‘enigma’ existing between the artificial aspects of the performance and the true humanity and depth of Minnie herself.