72.00 USD
A very special item. Here we have a series of four cards, representing the four seasons. Each of the seasons is personified by one of four famous Belle Epoque stage performers. Each of these four cards is in particularly fine condition, though posted in 1909.
They must have been kept very carefully and lovingly, because, by their appearance, they are practically brand new! They were all sent by the same person, to someone dear to them, and brief messages, such as,"a thousand kisses from Ninette," were written, in a nice hand, on the back of each card.
The images themselves, appear to be photogravures, made from photographs taken by the famous theatrical portraitist Leopold Reutlinger of Paris, probably circa 1905. Deeply impressed in fine, ivory-toned, stock, these images are truly precious.
Although we are merchants, and generally sell our wares on a piece by piece basis, we simply cannot bring ourselves to break up so lovingly cared for, and romantic, a set of cards as this one.
Because Etsy limits to five images, we need to give you a link to our blog, where you can see the backs of these cards.
http://redpoulaine.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-four-seasons-personified-by-famous.html
Le Printemps (Spring), is represented by the breathtaking Arlette Dorgere. Surrounded by early blossoms, her hair in a woodland sprite's disarray, she tenderly cradles a nest of tiny bird's eggs.
Mlle. Dorgere was a very popular artiste who performed at the Scala, and in many other venues in Paris and elsewhere. We have not been able to find any information about her early life, but we know that her image was captured by the famous poster artist Jules Cheret, and that at about the time the photograph for this card was taken (circa 1904), she was already so successful that she was able to purchase a lovely chateau, the Chateau Vigneus sur Seine, in a quiet neighborhood south of Paris. It was on a large wooded lot, with a pond, and when the pressures of her work grew heavy, she would ride in her chauffeur driven limousine to this retreat. In 1929, she sold the chateau, which she had renamed Chateau Dorgere, and retired quietly to Morocco, which was then a colonial protectorate of France.
L’été (Summer), is represented by Mlle. Marcelle Yrven (1877-1949), a fascinating woman who was not only a wonderful stage performer, but also an author, a poet, and outspoken on the subject of women in society. She wrote a short book on feminism, "La Comedienne Et Le Feminisme," as it related to women in the theater, which was not only interesting politically, but historically, as it pertained to Belle Epoque theater, really fascinating. I don't think it is available in English online, but it is short enough that if you have a little French, and the online translator, you can work through it.
In this image, she clutches flowers to her breast, while smiling joyfully, a goddess of the season.
L'Automne (Autumn), is the season during which the wine grapes are harvested, as depicted by our maenad, Mlle. Renee Despres, wearing vines and fruit of the vine. Wonderful image in which she smiles at us invitingly, offering us the celebration of the season. Unfortunately, we have no biographical information on her, apart from the fact that she did appear on the playbills of a number of theaters in Paris, and that, from other images we've seen, she was a most elegant lady of the Belle Epoque theater.
L'Hiver (Winter), is here pictured not so differently than it might be in England, or elsewhere in Europe or the United States. We have the yule logs, Holly, the evergreen tree, and is that a bit of mistletoe Miss Campton wears in her hair beneath her hood?
Here, photographed by Reutlinger, but often found in stunning images produced by Professor Stebbing, another well known and prolific Belle Epoque photographer, Miss Campton, like many performers in the Paris of that time, was English. She was born Emily Straham Cager in Brighton, in April of 1882. She was apparently a very special friend of Paul Derval, who for many years directed the Folies Bergere, and though they did not, as far as we know, marry, When she died at a relatively young age of cancer, in Paris, rather than being returned to England, she was interred in the Derval family tomb.
As a complete set, these cards evoke the magical, and celebratory relationship between people and nature that often seems the very essence of so much art during this period.