Portrait of Olga PETROVA
Photography
Inventory number
2026.4.21.11.PH.CI.C1917.USDescription
Studio portrait of Olga PETROVA, shown standing frontally against a plain backdrop. The figure faces the camera directly, her arms slightly extended from the body with the hands open and turned outward, producing a solemn, declamatory pose suggestive of theatrical gesture. Olga is dressed in a long, fluid costume composed of softly draped fabric falling in layered folds from shoulder to hem. The garment is cut with broad, flowing sleeves and a deeply draped front panel crossing the torso and descending in ample swags, creating a continuous play of vertical and diagonal folds. The textile gathers and pools slightly toward the lower edge, reinforcing the sense of weight and softness in the material.Her head is covered with turban-like bonnet made of matching fabric, wrapped smoothly around the skull and ornamented with a narrow decorative band across the front. At the feet, PETROVA wears open sandals with dark soles, visible beneath the hem.
Olga PETROVA (born Muriel Harding, Portsea, Hampshire 1884 - 1977 Clearwater, Florida) was a British-American actress, screenwriter and playwright, active on stage and in silent film during the first decades of the twentieth century. Adopting a Russian persona and stage name, she performed in vaudeville, on Broadway, and appeared in more than two dozen silent films for Solax Studios and Metro Pictures, frequently in the role of a femme fatale.
Material
Analog photographyDimensions
Length : 20 cmHeight : 25.5 cm