Medal Presented to Loïe Fuller by the French Government
Marie Alexandre Lucien Coudray (French, 1864–1932)
1900
- Medium
- bronze
- Classification
- Metalwork
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 7 cm (2 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- France, 19th century
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Decorative Art and Design
- Credit line
- Anonymous Gift
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
A temporary theater on the grounds of the 1900 Exposition Universelle was devoted to Loïe Fuller, who by that time had become a cultural icon. The theater’s interior was hung with draperies onto which a kaleidoscope of colors shone from stained glass windows and hidden lamps, evoking the diaphanous veils of her costumes. In the foyer was a gallery of paintings, drawings, and sculpture all depicting the dancer. Coudray’s medal, Orpheus at the Entrance to the Underworld, was struck to commemorate the world’s fair. This example of the famous Art Nouveau medal was engraved as a gift to Loïe Fuller.
