17.00 USD
One of our favorite, and most magical, subgenres of "Lovely Lady" postcards has to be that of the marvelous maenad. These are somewhat idealized, and presumably toned down, versions of those wild maidens of ancient Greece, who in their worship of Dionysus, the god of wine and sensual abandon, got up to all kinds of mischief. The maenad, as an image, was practically the poster girl of La Belle Epoque, expressing that rich, earthy, "joie de vivre," which has come to be seen as so expressive of that era. In our Marvelous Maenad section, we're not all that particular about whether the model is depicted as a woodland sprite, a pagan priestess, or if they're just a couple of Belle Epoque chorus girls unwinding after a tough dress rehearsal. The images we list in this section might have been published anytime between the 1890s and the 1930s. Basically, if they're wearing grapes, grapevines, animal skins, or any of the other accoutrements no self respecting maenad could do without, this is the section they'll end up in. Welcome to the Bacchanal!!! :)
Ileana Leonidoff, also known as Helena Leonidof moved with her family from Russia to Italy as a girl, began her theatrical career as a singer, but after suffering a sudden attack of laryngitis just prior to a concert engagement, rather than beg off, decided to dance for the audience! And so began her life long career as a dancer.
Present at this concert was Signor Anton Bragaglia, a director of silent films, and an avid supporter of the Futurist movement, who cast Mlle. Leonidoff in what is now the last remaining example of Futurist Italian Cinema, the 1917 film, "Thais." She appeared in a number of films into the early 1920s, and then left that industry to devote herself full time to dance.
Like the German Expressionist movement (which was greatly influenced by Italian Futurism), the Italian school was composed of artists and thinkers from diverse backgrounds, some of whom attached themselves politically to what was in the late 1910s, the rising star of Fascism. The history of Italian Futurism is rich, complex, and way more than anyone probably wants us to devote any more time to in this listing so we'll just stop there and recommend to those who might be interested in early 20th century art history that they give it a look!
A stunning image. Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!