Revealing Sarah Bernhardt, the Original Celebrity

Sarah Bernhardt: the very name evokes magic. Although she died in 1923, her legacy has endured to this day, and somehow she remains the symbol of acting, as well as the embodiment of the star and the diva.

Sarah Bernhardt, Portrait Bust of Louise Abbéma (1878), Museé d’Orsay, Paris.

It is extremely difficult to determine why someone becomes a legend. Perhaps that explains why the Jewish Museum's current exhibition, "Sarah Bernhardt: The Art of High Drama," is the first major show in the United States ever to focus on her. The show raises many questions: Who was she really? Was she the greatest actress ever? The most beautiful? Was she Jewish? A feminist? Political?

In an attempt to answer these and other questions, the exhibition features photographs, posters, paintings, and sculptures of the great Sarah, as well as costumes she wore, objects she owned, and even art she herself made.

It begins with Félix Nadar's famous photos of Bernhardt aged about 16, showing her at her most beautiful. In these we see someone vaguely familiar, not unlike the pretty girl in our high school class. Interspersed throughout the show are posters celebrating the actress by famous artists, such as Alphonse Mucha, Toulouse Lautrec, and Georges Clairin. These came to epitomize Art Nouveau or the "Belle Époque." We are also treated to an inscribed human skull that Victor Hugo gave her and a snake bracelet of gold, diamonds, and opals Alphonse Mucha designed for her. These objects, together with a monogrammed handkerchief and a photograph of the very-much-alive actress "practicing" lying in a coffin, are exhibited in the first room.

These, alone, suffice to tell us that we are in the presence of a bizarre and mysterious personality, but this is just the beginning. Displays that follow feature a miniscule bejeweled corset (she was known as the skinniest woman in France), glittering tiaras, ermine shawls, numerous costumes, and extraordinary jewelry.

Reutlinger Studio (French, active 1850–1930), La princesse lointaine (c. 1895), albumen print cabinet card, Harvard Theater Collection

Perhaps the biggest revelation in the show is the fact that Bernhardt was a first-rate sculptor. Exhibiting at the Paris salons from 1874-91, she was awarded honorable mention in 1876. Several of her pieces are included here. Among her sculptures are a bronze bas-relief listed as Portrait of Louise Abbéma, 1875 (?) or Self-Portrait, 1878 (?) (the curators are not sure of the subject or date), a marble bust of Abbéma, a terra cotta self-portrait as La Fille de Roland (Roland's Daughter), a small decorative bronze, and a fantastical bronze inkwell self-portrait as a sphinx. She also made a bronze bust of the playwright Victorien Sardou, with whom she collaborated on eight melodramas over a 20-year period. The catalogue mentions that she painted too, but no paintings are in the show. I would love to see more of Bernhardt's artworks.

Sarah Bernhardt was surely the most influential woman in France during her lifetime.

Born of a Jewish courtesan mother and an unknown father in 1844, she was baptized a Catholic; nonetheless she suffered the ridicule of anti-Semitism in the press. We can see in the show some caricatures of her supposedly Semitic features: her frizzy hair, her prominent nose, and her extravagant behavior. She did support Dreyfus, but she wrote to Emile Zola that "as a woman I have no influence." This seems a strange thing to say during the epoch known as "Sarahmania."

The exhibit emphasizes another fascinating aspect of her career, her many "trouser" roles. Though women frequently played male figures during the 19th century, a famed beauty portraying 18 male characters must be considered a bit unusual. Hamlet was her most famous role, but she also played Pelléas in Pelléas and Mélisande! Was there any meaning or special significance to this? We do know that she had female as well as male lovers. And wearing pants in France during her lifetime was forbidden for women. In fact, the artist Rosa Bonheur had to get special dispensation from the French police to "cross-dress," as they termed it.

Alphonse Mucha (Czech, 1860-1939), Sarah Bernhardt (1896), color lithograph, collection of Norma Canelas and William D. Roth. (Photo © 2005 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / Mucha Trust / ADAGP, Paris.)

The intention of the beautifully installed exhibit and handsome accompanying catalog is to search out the essence of the "divine Sarah." In addition to the art and documents already mentioned, film clips celebrating the name of Sarah Bernhardt begin and end the show. The first one features Marilyn Monroe, an icon herself. At the end we see homages by Judy Garland, Katharine Hepburn, Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Jane Powell, Ann Sothern, Julie Andrews, Sandra Bernhard, and Nicole Kidman. In between are a number of videos, showing scenes from Bernhardt's silent films, and demonstrating her melodramatic style (which today would certainly be anathema to drama coaches everywhere). There is also a vintage recording of her "golden voice."

Sarah was the original "celebrity"; she used all modern technological means available to her. From photography to film, from "high" to "low," she did it all. She began acting at the prestigious Comédie-Française. She performed Hamlet, Phaedre and other classical parts, as well as appearing in music halls and vaudeville. She even went as far as endorsing products, from soap to antiseptics to real estate! It was perhaps because of her extensive use of the media that her image and aura became omnipresent. Less commonly known is the fact that she toured the U.S. nine times, performing to sold-out houses all over the country (in French!). She even did a fund-raiser for victims of the San Francisco earthquake, and performed for prisoners at San Quentin. Sarah Bernhardt died just short of her 80th birthday, eight years after the amputation of her right leg. In spite of this and the ravaging effects of aging, she continued performing until her death. In fact, she was in the midst of making a new film when she died.

Bernhardt and her aura still provide the ingredients for stardom today—a heady mix of the exotic, beauty, sexuality, as well as "frissons," murder, and intrigue (both in her public and private lives). This is a particularly meaningful show for the Juilliard community, bringing together, as it does, so many art forms in order to shed light on this still-elusive figure.

The exhibition continues until April 2, with several special programs. On March 2 at 8 p.m., "Sarah Bernhardt's Musical Friendships" will feature baritone Francois Le Roux and pianist Sarah Rothenberg performing songs of Reynaldo Hahn; a panel discussion, "Sarah Bernhardt and the Belle Époque," will take place on March 9 at 6:30 p.m. The Jewish Museum is at 1109 Fifth Avenue (at 92nd Street) and is open Sunday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-5:45 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. (with free admission from 5 p.m.-8 p.m.); and Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. It is closed Saturday.

Art historian Greta Berman has been on the liberal arts faculty since 1979.