Facts - Sarah Bernhardt, pictures of the past
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Facts
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Sarah owned a theater in Paris. She commissioned the artist Alphonse Mucha to design posters for the plays (you can still order a copy). The designs were so beautiful that people took them off the walls with a razorblade to collect. To this day, copies of the famous art works can still be purchased. Sarah had photographers print her pictures in postcard format, featuring her role and the name of the play. They were told to destroy the photo negatives, but some of them did not. The original printed cards are still sold on Ebay.
Stage Jewelry
Alphonse Mucha made jewelry for Sarah. From 1899 on, René Lalique made jewelry for her. The famous designer was inspired by nature (flowers, snakes and insects). He was criticized because although his jewelry was beautiful, one could not wear it. Sarah proved that the on occasion enormous jewels could be worn.
Art Nouveau clothing
About 1900 the tea gown was invented. A not so tight dress with a body instead of a corset. It immediately became a sensual piece of clothing. Most women just did not dare to wear it outside the house. Sarah wore them on stage. Fashion designers approached actresses to wear their latest ideas.
Lipstick
During the world fair of 1883 in Amsterdam two French inventors showed "the lipstick". Untill that day women had to work with a jar of colored beeswax. Sarah was the trendsetter and called her new lipstick 'stylo d'amour'.
The Photo negatives:
These were made using the "Le Gray" procedure. Gustave Le Gray (1820-1882) is the inventor of the pre-oiled paper negative. The wax-coating was brushed on, the original brush strokes are still visible on the current prints. Photographers loved this method because the negatives were thinner and gave more pixels per square inch in the prints. Glass negatives are a direct derivative.
