Tricks of the Trade

Abstract

This chapter moves to the image of the elite prostitute, the demimondaine (dama polusveta). Unlike her corollary working in the brothel, the demimondaine freely moved about the city space and blended in with women of the cultural elite. A lady “between worlds,” the demimondaine occupied a precarious position in imperial Russia. More selective than a brothel worker and unlike the kept woman who settled with one lover, the demimondaine confused sexual and social boundaries by appropriating the behaviors, pastimes, and clothing of the elite. The source texts for the chapter include the numerous representations of elite prostitutes in print by the day's leading lithographers as well as depictions in famous paintings by Ilia Repin (A Parisian Café, 1875) and Ivan Kramskoi (Unknown Woman, 1883). These works codified the new behaviors of demimondaines as part of an emerging leisure culture modeled on European trends.