6.00 USD
So Saucy! Wonderfully evocative pose and costume. Image by that master of theatrical portrait, Leopold Reutlinger of Paris.
Beginning her career at the age of 15, at the Ambassadeurs in Paris, Eugénie Fougère (1865-Unknown), a Spanish Jew in origin, was a performance artiste whose international career spanned almost the entirety of that period known as La Belle Epoque.The g's in her name (a pseudonym), are pronounced with that soft "j" sound we don't really use in English.
She is probably best known for her interpretations and popularizing of African-American music and dance of the period, such as the "cake walk." Her routines were considered outrageous and scandalous by many, and were not always welcomed by audiences, particularly in America. Though well received in Harlem, she was hissed off the stage in Kansas City, according to a very informative article on Wikipedia (Thanks as always Wikipedia!).
Even today, her work is misunderstood by writers who, apparently unaware of the American plantation slave origins and attendant cultural milieu of dances such as the cake walk, misinterpret existing examples of her dancing as either inept, or intentionally ridiculous. This is understandable when taken in context, imagining the possible misinterpretations of even dances such as the "jerk," or the "twist," by an uninitiated commentator 100 years from now :)
Also negatively affecting her reputation was her arrest and conviction in London, in 1906, for shoplifting, which, though eventually thrown out (and apparently for good reason, if one delves more deeply into the case), still resulted in inflammatory articles in London periodicals that were reprinted in American Newspapers.
Scandal seemed to follow her, and in more than one touring location, once in Italy, and again in America, there were instances of her reporting the theft of valuable jewelry from her places of residence. At this point, it is difficult to say whether or not some of this notoriety might not have been intentionally created in order to stimulate publicity.
Additionally, there was the grisly murder of her namesake, the "demimondaine" Eugénie Fougère, who was found strangled with her maid at a popular resort in France, in the early 1900s. Both dancer, and demimondaine, lived in Paris at the same time, knew one another, had friends in common, and even, for a time, resided on the same street. Even today, the two are frequently mistaken for the same person historically, and, given the scandalous reputation of the demimondaine, who was known to use opium and ether, and get up to all kinds of wild mischief, this could only have added to the reputation of our dancer, Mlle. Fougère.
Below is a link to a very short film provided by the Library of Congress of Eugénie Fougère performing a "cake walk" like dance. Filmed in 1899, it was copyrighted, 1902.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjTnX9H3pTk
A card with a lot of character! Please examine our high res scans for detail.
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