Unequivocal Magic

Unequivocal Magic speaks to the "quiet power" of photographs and their hidden creativity, bringing readers into the author's own journey into the history of a 1910 portrait of iconic French actress, Sarah Bernhardt. What begins as a quest to recognize the work of her once renowned photographer, Walter Barnett, becomes a story about the female performer in the West, whose use of image to innovate, protest, and survive public scrutiny can provide an enduring agency.

Alex Bertram has always found old photographs intriguing, an interest augmented by her work as a picture researcher for a publisher. On a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, she saw a 1910 portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, the famous French actress whose career by then had spanned half a century. Beset with questions about this unidealized representation of the actress in her older age, she wondered what the photograph could tell us about Bernhardt, its photographer, or the circumstances surrounding the making of the portrait.

Structured around the day Bernhardt had her picture taken in that London studio, Unequivocal Magic traces the travel of the portrait on its life journey, with Bertram returning again and again to this single day in 1910. Bertram's narrative likewise embraces her own creative response upon seeing the portrait for the first time, enveloping that moment into her engagement with and close examination of the lives and work of both Barnett and Bernhardt. Alex Bertram is a writer and educator. She has worked for trade and academic publishers in Melbourne and London and holds a PhD in Creative Writing. Alex lives in Victoria, BC, and works as a writing instructor at the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
• for readers of creative nonfiction who enjoy reflective research-driven narratives that blend history, cultural analysis, and personal journey
• appeal for museum and gallery visitors and curators of photography
• of interest to cultural historians, visual studies scholars
• book speaks to the contemporary interest in the soft power of material objects, such as photographs, to tell the stories of women in the footnotes of history
• offers a unique blend of reportage, cultural biography, and personal journey
• author is a member of international associations: Literary Journalism Studies, and National Association of Writers in Education (UK) that advocate for using creative writing in education and for scholarly research and education in journalism
Unequivocal Magic is a fascinating and original exploration of an iconic photograph of French theatrical legend Sarah Bernhardt by a forgotten pioneer, Walter Barnett. Alex Bertram's impeccable research and vivid imagination liberate Bernhardt from this static image, captured by Barnett in 1910, not only providing her subject with a rich context but questioning the very meaning of photographic portraiture. Applying a phenomenological approach, Bertram uses her archival hunt to dissect the meaning of Bernhardt's portrait, and the actor's relationship with her photographer and her public, while considering the phenomenal potential of a single image to generate a universe of responses. A must-read for scholars of photography, French theatre culture in the nineteenth century, and those who appreciate the thrill of historical detective work.