Welcome to the Victorian Underground Project

These beautiful photographs were taken in a small nocturnal cabaret club in the West End of London circa 1880. This little known style of theatre and dance spread across the European underground for approximately twenty years before disappearing with little trace.

The 1880s was an interesting time to be alive. As we’ve noted before, society was going through rapid changes and new philosophical ideas were flourishing. For perhaps the first time bohemians, artists and rebels were being exposed to new belief systems which challenged antiquated norms and provided a new lens for thinking about their relationship to the world.

In this world, with limited means of communication, free thinking men and women congregated at underground coffee shops, teahouses, theatres, bars, art spaces and suchlike. After many years of rigorous traditional values dictating people’s lives, pursuing alternative lifestyles and subcultures felt like a revolutionary act.

The arts benefited greatly from this period. We have already begun to look at different subcultures and today’s collection is perhaps my personal favourite of all of them.

The Floating Heads Cabaret operated down a back alleyway known as The Reaper’s Dagger. It attracted a breadth of creative types who were eager to experiment with new subversive styles.

Research suggests that an unknown artist from Prague had travelled to London to perform his unique show. On a stage in front of only fifty people, this artist performed a theatre show with an almost hypnotic song and dance routine. They also played every character in the story, somehow switching into new clothes and a different floating mask in the blink of an eye. Nobody present had witnessed anything quite like it.

A member of the audience, Joseph Butterfield, a well-known thespian, approached the artist backstage and asked for an explanation. The artist told him that they will reveal the method if they promise to share it with only one other person in their lifetime.

Joseph agreed and from that day forth, this fascinating art movement slowly flourished in the West End alongside Paris, Berlin, Barcelona et al. An estimated one hundred people in London learned the techniques and having stayed true to teaching only one other person.

We have more photographs and information about this collection which we are looking forward to sharing with you over the coming weeks.

In the meantime may you have a fantastic week.

TVUP