Saharet

Details

Literatur:
Vgl. Heinrich Voss, Franz von Stuck, Werkkatalog der Gemälde, München 1973, S. 164, Kat.-Nr. 295/539.

Description

Born in Melbourne, the dancer Saharet (1879-1942) moved to San Francisco in the 1890s, the first of many stops, where she performed as a “danseuse excentrique” at the Orpheum Theatre. In 1897 she was engaged as a revue dancer by Édouard Marchand, the director of the Folies Bergère. This was followed by a move to Paris, from where she took part in tours throughout Europe. Her repertoire included solo cancan interpretations, but also folk dances such as the tarantella, whose graceful performance also captivated German audiences: “Everything dances in her, the eyes, every line of her constantly changing face (…) she manages to make even a somersault not only droll, but ravishing. After a few Spanish pas she goes into a whirl, it seems like no effort, this mad gyration, it is as if some mysterious zephyr turned into a typhoon whirls her around and bam! she stands there and everything is over” (Alfred Walter Heymel, “Saharet”, in: Dekorative Kunst, IIIrd year, Munich 1900, p. 373). In January 1899, Saharet accepted the invitation of the prince of painters Franz von Lenbach and sat for him for a fortnight – in exchange for a fee, of course. Franz von Stuck also portrayed the dancer with the exuberant temperament several times in the years 1902-1907. Stuck probably created a total of eight to nine portraits of the “Australian Dancing Wonder”, including the portrait in Spanish costume in the Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich (inv. no. G 14259). Here she faces the viewer head-on, smiling almost mischievously at him. She has pinned up her dark, curly hair with a red flower barrette. Voss records an almost identical picture (cf. Voss 295/539). Here, however, Stuck immortalises her stage name by placing it in the picture in capital letters.