Partner Gab Sorère
Queer Places:
Maryhill Museum of Art, 35 Maryhill Museum Dr, Goldendale, WA 98620
Père Lachaise Cemetery, 16 Rue du Repos, 75020 Paris, Francia
Loie
Fuller (also Loïe Fuller; January 15, 1862 – January 1, 1928) was an American
actress and dancer who was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical
lighting techniques. She counted Eileen
Gray among her friends.
James Abbott
McNeill Whistler, Stéphane Mallarmé, Jean Lorrain,
Auguste Rodin, and others
repeatedfly sketched Loie Fuller. Considered the first modernist dancer,
Fuller debuted at the Folies-Bergère in 1892 and became an instant sensation.
She was notably queer, she surrounded herself with a bevy of beautiful young
students, butterflies, who were always alternately stroking her hands and
kissing her. In this harem her collaborator and romantic partner for 30 years,
Gabrielle Bloch aka Gab Sorère, was
an insect, a strange figure in a balck tailor-made suit who circulated aroung
the bevy of brightly colored butterflies like some scarab of ancient Egypt.
Born Marie Louise Fuller in the Chicago suburb of Fullersburg, now
Hinsdale, Illinois, Fuller began her theatrical career as a professional child
actress and later choreographed and performed dances in burlesque (as a skirt
dancer), vaudeville, and circus shows. An early free dance practitioner,
Fuller developed her own natural movement and improvisation techniques. In
multiple shows she experimented with a long skirt, choreographing its
movements and playing with the ways it could reflect light. By 1891, Fuller
combined her choreography with silk costumes illuminated by multi-coloured
lighting of her own design, and created the Serpentine Dance.[1]
After much difficulty finding someone willing to produce her work when she was
primarily known as an actress, she was finally hired to perform her piece
between acts of a comedy entitled Uncle Celestine, and received rave
reviews.[2]
Almost immediately, she was replaced by imitators (originally Minnie
"Renwood" Bemis). In the hope of receiving serious artistic recognition that
she was not getting in America, Fuller left for Europe in June 1892. Gabrielle
Bloch first saw Loïe Fuller perform at her Paris debut in 1892, when her
mother took her to the performance.
By 1898, the two women were living together and the relationship caused
controversy, not only because they were openly lesbian, but because Fuller was
eight years older than Bloch, who routinely dressed as a man.
Bloch took the professional name of Gab Sorère around 1920,
and collaborated with Fuller, while working as a promoter of other artists.
Fuller was the performer of the duo and Sorère worked as a stage designer and
invented mechanical props, branching into filmmaking.
Loie Fuller by James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Loie Fuller by Auguste Rodin
Fuller
became one of the first of many American modern dancers who traveled to Europe
to seek recognition.[3]
Her warm reception in Paris persuaded Fuller to remain in France, where she
became one of the leading revolutionaries in the arts. A regular performer at
the Folies Bergère with works such as Fire Dance,, Fuller became the
embodiment of the Art Nouveau movement and was often identified with
Symbolism, as her work was seen as the perfect reciprocity between idea and
symbol.[4]
Fuller began adapting and expanding her costume and lighting, so that they
became the principle element in her performance—perhaps even more important
than the actual choreography, especially as the length of the skirt was
increased and became the central focus, while the body became mostly hidden
within the depths of the fabric.[3]
An 1896 film of the Serpentine Dance[5]
by the pioneering film-makers Auguste and Louis Lumière gives a hint of what
her performance was like. (The unknown dancer in the film is often mistakenly
identified as Fuller herself; however, there is no actual film footage of
Fuller dancing.)
Fuller's pioneering work attracted the attention, respect, and friendship
of many French artists and scientists. Fuller was also a member of the Société
astronomique de France (French Astronomical Society).
Fuller held many patents related to stage lighting including chemical
compounds for creating color gel and the use of chemical salts for luminescent
lighting and garments (stage costumes US Patent 518347).[6]
She attempted to create a patent of her Serpentine Dance as she hoped
to stop imitators from taking her choreography and even claiming to be her.
Fuller submitted a written description of her dance to the United States
Copyright Office;[7]
however, a US Circuit Court judge ended up denying Fuller's request for an
injunction, as the Serpentine Dance told no story and was therefore not
eligible for copyright protection.[8]
At that time dance was only protected if it qualified as "dramatic" and
Fuller's dance was too abstract for this qualification. The precedent set by
Fuller's case remained in place from 1892 until 1976, when Federal Copyright
Law explicitly extended protection to choreographic works.[8]
Fuller supported other pioneering performers, such as fellow United
States-born dancer
Isadora Duncan.
Fuller helped Duncan ignite her European career in 1902 by sponsoring
independent concerts in Vienna and Budapest.[9]
Loie Fuller's original stage name was "Louie". In modern French "L'ouïe" is
the word for a sense of hearing. When Fuller reached Paris she gained a
nickname which was a pun on "Louie"/"L'ouïe". She was renamed "Loïe" - this
nickname is a corruption of the early or Medieval French "L'oïe", a precursor
to "L'ouïe", which means "receptiveness" or "understanding". She was also
referred to by the nickname "Lo Lo Fuller".
Fuller formed a close friendship with Queen Marie of Romania; their
extensive correspondence has been published. Fuller, through a connection at
the United States embassy in Paris played a role in arranging a United States
loan for Romania during World War I. Later, during the period when the future
Carol II of Romania was alienated from the Romanian royal family and living in
Paris with his mistress Magda Lupescu, she befriended them; they were unaware
of her connection to Carol's mother Marie. Fuller initially advocated to Marie
on behalf of the couple, but later schemed unsuccessfully with Marie to
separate Carol from Lupescu.[10]With Queen Marie and American businessman Samuel Hill, Fuller helped found the
Maryhill Museum of Art in rural Washington State, which has permanent exhibits
about her career..
Fuller occasionally returned to America to stage performances by her
students, the "Fullerets" or Muses, but spent the end of her life in Paris.
She died of pneumonia at the age of 65 on January 1, 1928 in Paris, two weeks
shy of her 66th birthday. She was cremated and her ashes are interred in the
columbarium at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Her sister, Mollie Fuller, had
a long career as an actress and vaudeville performer.Fuller occasionally returned to America to stage performances by her
students, the "Fullerets" or Muses, but spent the end of her life in Paris.
She died of pneumonia at the age of 65 on January 1, 1928 in Paris, two weeks
shy of her 66th birthday. She was cremated and her ashes are interred in the
columbarium at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Her sister, Mollie Fuller, had
a long career as an actress and vaudeville performer.[11]
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loie_Fuller
- A Touch of Blossom: John Singer Sargent and the Queer Flora of Fin-De-Siecle, by Alison Syme