Celebrity wall

[1] The portraits are often signed by their subject, showing that the portraits were "made from life, a document of an authentic celebrity encounter between artist and subject".

[2] Early celebrity walls first developed in downtown theater districts.

An early example was at Chapin & Gore in Chicago, in the 1870's, which was near McVicker's Theater.

The wall included actors, politicians, and leading industrialists.

A back room included "'indecent and obscene' caricatures of European notables".