Art, Music Hall and Circus in the Belle Epoque
The morning
focused on France and the circus taking Degas’s “Miss La, La and the Cirque
Fernando” as a starting point. Jo Rhymer from the gallery talked about the
picture and why it was so ground breaking. She also talked about the Cirque
Fernando and its influence on other artists then introduced us to Miss La, La
herself. In a second talk she looked at how Toulouse-Lautrec had also depicted
this circus.
Cultural
historian, Fern Riddell, then talked about other aerial acts and the phenomena
of these performances both in France and England. She also talked about the
strong position held by these female performers in society as they outstripped
male performers in salary and this gave them independence.
In the afternoon
we focused more on the British music hall with the novelist Essie Fox talking
about her novel the Somnambulant set partly at Wilton’s music hall and about
her reaction to the place when she first visited. There was an optional trip to
see the music hall and attend a performance that evening which I wish now I had
booked!
Anna Gruetzner
from the University of Reading then talked about Walter Sickert’s paintings of
the music hall staring with painting the performers from an audience view point
then turning his attention to the audience itself.
Finally Amber
Butchart, a fashion historian, talked about Vesta Tilley and the genre of
female drag artists in the music hall. She needed to be congratulated on her
outfit which included a t-shirt mimicking a man’s dress jacket and a bowler
hat!
All in all a
fascinating day which attached a diverse audience from art geeks like me to
music hall aficionados and even a fascinating lady who I sat next to whose
great grandmother had been a colourful music hall artist! What a fun day
leaving me with lots to look out for in pictures!
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