If you are in Paris before August 28, don’t miss the Sarah Bernhardt exhibition at the Petit Palais.
The engrossing and expansive study of the first female superstar, the exhibition displays over 400 articles, including photos, portraits, paintings, costumes, stage props, objects, and sculptures.
Her long, illustrious stage career began when she was studying at the Comedie Francaise and made her stage debut in 1862, at 18 years old. Unhappy with the limitations put upon her at Comedie Francaise and the low salary, she left the company and struck out on her own. Her breakout performance was in the 1868 revival of Kean by Alexandre Dumas and her career soared after that, creating mesmerizing characters in plays by Racine, Moliere, Shakespeare, George Sand, Alexander Dumas, and Victor Hugo, and one of her most successful collaborations was with playwright Victorien Sardou, who wrote La Tosca (a stage version of the opera), Theodora, Cleopatra, and Fedora.
Also, a smart businesswoman, she formed her own theater troupe, and later negotiated to license her image to appear on different commercial products, garnering large sums of money.
Soon Bernhardt’s fame swept the world, as she toured extensively throughout Europe, Latin America, and the United States in the late 1800s, starring in her classic roles.
Artists such as Gustave Doré, Georges Clairin, Louise Abbéma and Alphonse Mucha (Bernhardt met Mucha in an art store and commissioned him to design her theater posters, which brought him fame and fortune) practically worshiped her, embodying her image through paintings, sculptures, drawings, photos, and even caricatures, which are displayed throughout the exhibit. Writers were also enamored with her and were inspired to write plays and roles for her.
Not only was Bernhardt prolific in her acting, she also pursued other art forms directing, painting, sculpting, writing (she wrote eight books), and drawing also with success. Late in her career in the early twentieth century, she acted in silent films.
Until August 28, 2023
Sarah Bernhardt
Petit Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008
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