Loie Fuller: Goddess of Light, by Richard Nelson Current and Marcia Ewing Current. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997. xx + 400 pp., photographs, appendix, notes, bibliography, index. $29.95 clothbound.

Abstract

Loie Fuller (1862-1928) was once the most famous dancer in the world, though many, including Loie herself, wondered if what she did was really dancing. In her best-known innovation, the serpentine, she manipulated voluminous folds of silk through shimmering beams of colored lights. Loie broke the mold of traditional choreography and paved the way for other pioneers in modern dance, including Isadora Duncan and Josephine Baker. As a magician of light, she made long-lasting contributions to stage lighting, cinematic techniques, and costuming. Loie also beguiled her era with autobiographical details that suited her fancy more than the facts, leaving a sketchy and inaccurate portrait of her early years. Drawing on primary sources, the authors masterfully untangle the paradoxes of this exceptional woman. A tall and lovely sylph in posters and sculptures, she was in reality a rather plump woman with a plain face; a dance innovator, she had no training in choreography; a co-founder of art museums, she had never seen an art exhibit before arriving in Paris; a close and respected associate of the most learned men and women in the world, she had no formal education. Loie said that she was born in America but made in France, and this fascinating book also brings to life members of the circles in which she flourished, including Sarah Bernhardt, Alexandre Dumas fils, Pierre and Marie Curie, Anatole France, Auguste Rodin, and Queen Marie of Romania. In a biography as distinctive as the woman it depicts, the authors reveal a remarkable artist whose dauntless will to get ahead, along with intelligence, resourcefulness, and ingenuity, enabled her to succeed despite repeated disappointments andfinancial disasters. This is the definitive work on Loie Fuller and her tremendous influence on the world of dance and Art Nouveau.