GARVAL on CLEO DE MERODE - THE SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN WHICH SHE CAME UP

19th CENTURY ART WORLD : GARVAL'S ON DE MERODE 

From an article called Cleo de Merode's which is excellent and gives us much information about society and culture in Paris, France, at the time when Cleo de Merode was coming up as a dancer and woman.

EXCERPT:  During this period young dancers or petites danseuses loomed especially large in the collective imagination.  The most coveted of all were the so called rats, the 12-16year old girls in the Paris Opera corps de ballet, an institution that, according to Lenard R Berlanstein, had a long standing reputation as a "national harem."  Likewise, Willy's 1904 book on danseuses still characterized the Paris Opera as "a sanctuary for Venus's progeny, a libertine haven," subject of "a thousand salacious anecdotes. a thousand scandalous rumors.  In this temple o licentiousness, the young girls of the corps de ballet were the not-quite vestal virgins, and the Foyer de la Danse, or dancer's lounge, the inner sanctum.  Her only the wealthiest, most powerful en could enter, mingle with the dancers, and pursue those they fancied - as in the 1901 Steinlen illustration from L'Assiette au beurre - practices that amounted to a kind of "state- sponsored prostitution."

Go the article to see postcards of Cleo De Merode and more fascinating information including poetry that had been written about her as a beauty..

CLEO DE MERODE TRIES TO TAKE NEW YORK BUT FAILS

Cleo de Merode arrived in New York City in 1896 at the height of her fame in Europe where the Germans and Austrians loved her as much as the French and the first locally taken photos of her appeared in September of that year in the New York Journal.

She had hopes of attaining even greater fame and fortune but she failed. My notion is that perhaps during this era when so many were leaving Europe to immigrate to America and leave behind allegiance to Kings the supposed consort of a King seemed to be just too Old School, from the Europe they left behind. 

According to Michael D.Garval, the author other book on Cleo that was a primary reference for this month's posts, there's the possibility that Americans were merely curious about what Paris thought of as beautiful when they went to see her. They might also have been disappointed in her skills at dance. In New York she presented herself as the star of a ballet called Phryne on Broadway.  Perhaps they were expecting "a spectacle of sexuality" and got classical dance instead and felt disappointed.

Cleo danced at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris when she was twenty-five. (Colorized videos are being posted this month thanks to YouTube contributors.) Watching them it seems to me her presentations were graceful and modest rather than exotic. Was it that her modest performances didn't live up to her racy or sensationalized reputation? Cleo would end her dancing career around the age of thirty-nine, having begun at seven. It was a long run and is still typical of dancers who are often suffering from injuries and arthritis by forty.

Her apparent failure in New York City didn't stop the dancer from continuing on in her tour of America.  She appeared in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, and smaller cities in the Midwest.

But then, what did she do until she died at ninety-one?

Had she made a fortune to sustain her? Or had she been given gifts enough to sell? 

Perhaps we will never know the details but the world would hear of Cleo De Merode again long after she had been a star.

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My notes from the book on Cleo by Michael D. Garval included

CLEOPATRA DIANE DE MERODE and KING LEOPOLD II OF BELGIUM : THE FIRST CELEBRITY - CALLED A COURTESAN SHE DEFENDED HERSELF AND WON

CLEO DE MERODE

Image from Wikimedia

Because she was so photographed and so many copies were made, there exists a great number of images.

CLEOPATRA DIANE DE MERODE

1877 - 1966

Daughter of Viennese Baroness, Vincentia Maria Cacilla Catharina de Merode

Long before American artist Andy Warhol predicted that in the future everyone would be famous for fifteen minutes, Cleopatra Diane De Merode, known as Cleo, became the first world famous celebrity, the first celebrated woman, whose international fame lasted years. Though word of mouth and mentions in newspapers and small presses included the beautiful woman who started ballet lessons at seven and performing in The Opera Ballet in Paris at eight in the corps de ballet, it was photos of her as an adult and printed on postcards that circulated the world and promoted this Parisian dancer and actress during the Belle Epic. Rather than cut and paste into e-mails, her image was snail mailed around the world. One of those images was of her taking a show bath rather than a good scrub. I think of present day exotic dancer and stripper Dita Von Teese, now famous for her on stage baths. According to the 1896 Parisian Illustrated Review volume 1, page 65, the most photographed woman in Paris was described as "having eyes of velvet, dazzling teeth, a fine figure, and a languishing grace." It was the year she met King Leopold II of Belgium who was at the theatre watching her performance and asked to meet her. She was a half hour late in getting back onto stage and that half hour may have lead to rumors that were never true.

According to author Michael D. Garval, in his book, "Cleo de Merode and the Rise of Modern Celebrity Culture," a primary reference for this month's posts, Merode was at a "pivotal moment in the history of fame and visual culture" and she "heralded modern celebrity icons."

Garval also gives an accounting of reviews of the dancers of what was risky burlesque as the century turned, which as is traditional, included humor and silly jokes, flirting, flouting, and taking most of it off. 

While Cleo was not a stripper or exotic dancer as we think of them today, she eventually showed much of her body, but there was one part she never ever showed. Her ears! Apparently, she thought they were ugly. Ear fetishizers speculated and hoped she would eventually show them but she kept them tucked under her neatly organized extremely thick hair in a style called the bandeaux.

The question is, how did Cleo, who was a trained ballet dancer though not a star, but known for her beauty, keep her celebrity going?

By 1902 she was at the height of her celebrity and considered to be the most beautiful woman alive, a fashion icon, a trendsetter /influencer. She had been modeling for statues, paintings and posters, depicted as nude or clothed. She was sought as a model by the best. She was photographed for her personal publicity - her career. She appeared on the backs of playing cards. 

She was an inspiration to other women. As we learned when we explored the reality of a ballet dancer's life in Paris, it was expected that dancers were Courtesans or at least had patrons for the girls bloomed into puberty while living in poverty.

But was she a Courtesan? That's something she denied.

Was King Leopold II of Belgium her protector or just one of many who could look but not touch? Their liaison was enough for both of them to be portrayed in the "Foyer de la Danse" at the Opera. It was a private club where rich men could mingle with the dancers, a place where ballet dancers could meet patrons or be plucked out of the chorus to be Kept. 

Reports were also that she had spurned marriage proposals.  Was she picky or all tied up with the King? 

Whatever their relationship was, it made them both more famous.  Yet, some thought her reputation suffered for it because his reputation was so bad! Whatever did or didn't happen between her and the King, it hurt her career. After all, who was good enough for a King? And who was good enough for her? There was about forty years difference between them. Implied is that the 61ish old King could still - well, you know!  He of course, did have deep pockets, but did he actually Keep her, or was he just her most adoring fan?

I wonder what role class had in Cleo's life because she was not born common. However, Cleo was the illegitimate daughter of a Baroness of Venice,  raised Catholic, and well, everyone understood there could be no marriage because the King was married, but you love who you love.

Of a mixed European heritage, she was popular in Germany and Austria and toured.

Eventually Cleo would try to conquer America, and appear in New York City. 

In her later years she would deny she was ever a Courtesan, sue to reclaim her reputation and win against a feminist author who became famous for her theory too.

The never married and childless dancer, who continued to perform until about the age of thirty-nine, (some say fifty) continued to teach dance even in her eighties and lived to a very old age. I'll be posting more on this Belle Epoch beauty this month.

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Research for this months posts include the above mentioned book, encyclopedias such as encyclopedia.com and general reading. To read about other Courtesans, ballet dancers, dancers who were mistresses, or the Belle Epoch, search through this blog using the archives.  You might be interested in Isadora Duncan, for instance. Click on the tag such as ballet and bring up other Mistresses or Courtesans covered here. CELESTINE EMAROT, MISTRESS OF BARON CHARLES de CHASSIRON and FERDINAND De MONTGUYON and BALLARINA COURTESANS runs in September 2016.