Research Catalog

Title

Foyer des acteurs à l'Opéra [graphic] / Eugène Lami [artist] ; R. Staines [engraver].

Author

Staines, Robert, 1805-1849.

Publication

Paris : M. Soulié, 1845.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Lami, Eugène Louis, 1800-1890.
• Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. fnd

Description

1 print : steel engraving, hand-colored; 16 x 26 cm., image 11 x 17 cm.

Summary

Representation of the Foyer de la danse or green room at the Paris Opéra, a meeting place for performers and their admirers, engraved by Robert Staines after a watercolor painting by Eugène Lami. The print has been somewhat modified from Lami's original painting. The bonneted woman adjusting a dancer's costume has replaced a group of men surrounding the ballerina Caroline Forster. The costume and headdress of the dancer in movement, immediately to their right, has been altered and made more elaborate. The number of figures in the central group has been reduced, and now includes only the poet Alfred de Musset (in three-quarter back view), the Comte de Belmont, and the ballerina Fanny Elssler. The right side of the picture has also been altered but retains the figure of Lautour-Mezeray, who leans against a pillar facing the dancer Célestine Emarot. A watering pot, used to moisten the floor and prevent the dancers from slipping, has been added to the right of Elssler.

Donor/Sponsor

Dance Committee Purchase Fund.

Alternative Title

Foyer de la danse

Subjects

• Ballet dancers > France > 19th century
• Elssler, Fanny, 1810-1884
• Engravings
• Emarot, Célestine, 1824-1892
• Opéra de Paris

Genre/Form

Engravings.

Indexed In (note)

• Reproduced in Great ballet prints of the Romantic era, compiled by Parmenia Migel, New York, Dover, 1981
• Eugène Lami's original watercolor is reproduced in Guest, Ivor, The Romantic ballet in Paris, London, Pitman, 1966
• Kahane, Martine, Le foyer de la danse, Paris, Ministère de la culture et de la communication, Éditions de la Réunion de musées nationaux, 1988

Funding (note)

• Purchased with funds from the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Biography (note)

• In her monograph of the same title, dance scholar Martine Kahane has called the Foyer de la danse a phenomenon exclusively linked to the Paris Opéra, and identifies its high point as the years 1820-1880, covering the approximate date when this print was made. The meetings that took place there between dancers, singers, and other performers with their male admirers (who were usually of a higher class) were replete with secondary meanings that often had little to do with the appreciation of their art. The interactions between dancers and their patrons were treated by Edgar Degas and other artists of the time, often providing a pretext for social commentary or satire.

Call Number

*MGZFD Sta R Foy 1

OCLC

780304453

Author

Staines, Robert, 1805-1849. Engraver

Title

Foyer des acteurs à l'Opéra [graphic] / Eugène Lami [artist] ; R. Staines [engraver].

Imprint

Paris : M. Soulié, 1845.

Indexed In:

Reproduced in Great ballet prints of the Romantic era, compiled by Parmenia Migel, New York, Dover, 1981, no. 37.

Eugène Lami's original watercolor is reproduced in Guest, Ivor, The Romantic ballet in Paris, London, Pitman, 1966, fig. 3. It includes a key to the persons depicted.

Kahane, Martine, Le foyer de la danse, Paris, Ministère de la culture et de la communication, Éditions de la Réunion de musées nationaux, 1988, cat. no. 2.

Biography

In her monograph of the same title, dance scholar Martine Kahane has called the Foyer de la danse a phenomenon exclusively linked to the Paris Opéra, and identifies its high point as the years 1820-1880, covering the approximate date when this print was made. The meetings that took place there between dancers, singers, and other performers with their male admirers (who were usually of a higher class) were replete with secondary meanings that often had little to do with the appreciation of their art. The interactions between dancers and their patrons were treated by Edgar Degas and other artists of the time, often providing a pretext for social commentary or satire.

Local Note

Cataloging funds provided by Friends of Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

For additional depictions of the Foyer de la danse, including uncolored and differently colored versions of this print, see: *MGZFX Foy 1-4.

Funding

Purchased with funds from the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

Local Note

This item may be offsite for digitization. For additional information please contact dance@nypl.org.

Connect to:

NYPL Digital Collections

Added Author

Lami, Eugène Louis, 1800-1890. Artist

Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Funder

Added Title

Foyer de la danse

Research Call Number

*MGZFD Sta R Foy 1