Object Details
- depicted
- Emmet, Joseph K.
- Maclure & Macdonald
- Description
- This black and white print is a half-length portrait of actor Joseph K. Emmet seated in a jacket and wide lapel frock or mourning coat, and a waistcoat with a wide collar and lapels. He is in a standing collar and a striped cravat with a cravat pin and is holding gloves. Emmet is fair skinned with curly hair and a side part. A short quote in the bottom margin reads, “One of the most original and genial actors that ever was seen. He is always elegant and graceful. There is in his performance an under-current of deep pathos. LONDON TIMES.”
- Joseph Klein (frequently spelled Kline) “Fritz” Emmet (1841-1891) was a singer, minstrel performer, impersonator, character actor, and comedian born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was drawn to the stage after apprenticing with a sign maker who also created sets for local playhouses. At around age seventeen he began working as a snare drummer for Joseph Escher’s orchestra. He also showed a talent for yodeling and soon got a job with a local minstrel show. Moving on to New York, he appeared with Dan Bryant’s Minstrels, a German blackface group, and then in variety shows. Over time he developed a character called "Dutch," who wore wooden shoes and a cap and sang in fractured English. In 1870, Emmet made his debut in the role that would turn him into one of the most successful performers of his time, as the lead in Fritz, Our Cousin German . Portraying a young man seeking his long-lost sister while finding love, with a signature song called “Emmet’s Lullaby,” he appeared as Fritz on stages throughout the United States and Europe for the rest of his life. His other roles included Carl, the Fiddler (1871) Max, the Merry Swiss Boy (1873), and Fritz in Ireland (1879). His appeal was enhanced by his dancing skills, his mastery of musical instruments like the guitar, violin, and harmonica, his Irish tenor voice, and his personal charm. Emmet also became celebrated for the eccentric mansion he built on fifteen acres overlooking the Hudson River near Albany, New York. "Fritz Villa," as it came to be known, featured an eclectic mix of towers, gables, stained glass windows--even a windmill--and was influenced by Emmet's exposure to various architectural styles during his travels through Europe.
- This print was produced by Maclure & Macdonald, a lithographic and engraving firm established by Andrew MacLure and Archibold Grey MacDonald in Glasgow, Scotland in 1835. The firm was considered to be the first in the United Kingdom to use steam power for lithographic printing. Frank MacLure, one of Andrew’s sons, became Queen Victoria’s lithographer in the 1880s. The firm remained open until 1992.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Harry T. Peters "America on Stone" Lithography Collection
- n.d.
- ID Number
- DL.60.3045
- catalog number
- 60.3045
- accession number
- 228146
- Object Name
- lithograph
- Object Type
- Lithograph
- Physical Description
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- Measurements
- image: 15 in x 12 1/2 in; 38.1 cm x 31.75 cm
- place made
- United Kingdom: England, London
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Clothing & Accessories
- Advertising
- Art
- Peters Prints
- Domestic Furnishings
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Communication, newspapers
- Adornment
- Theater
- Record ID
- nmah_325303
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-37dc-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
