pherank Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 Once upon a time there was a renowned beauty, and Paris Opera Ballet-trained dancer, Cléopatra "Cléo" de Mérode. She was most famous during the period known as La Belle Époque. In some ways Mérode was an early super model - she was photographed many, many times and her image appeared on photo cards/post cards (often in theater costumes) and in advertising. Some photos of Mérode show her wearing Victorian/Edwardian era garb, but others have her in dance costumes. Anyway, I happened upon an archive of Mérode photo cards that includes her posing as Terpsichore (though I doubt Mr. Balanchine would have seen any of these images as a young man). Here's a link to the archive for anyone with an interest: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84322392.r=Cleo De Merode?rk=42918;4 The Terpsichore images begin here (but things are a bit disorganized in the archive so a few may appear elsewhere):https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b84322392/f557.item Link to comment
sandik Posted April 27, 2019 Share Posted April 27, 2019 Fascinating, especially the orientalist material. Link to comment
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