The Wake

Each year a graduate student in the University’s Art History Department gets the chance to work with Wilson Library’s art librarian to curate an exhibit from the Gorman Rare Art Book Collection. This year Sarah Sik created “The Birth of Celebrity Culture in the City of Lights (1880 – 1900)” — an exhibit that focuses on the Parisian preoccupation with celebrity culture at the turn of the twentieth century.

The exhibit, which is presented by the University of Minnesota Libraries in conjunction with the department of art history, runs now through April 27, in the James Ford Bell Library on the fourth floor of Wilson Library. It is free and open to the public.

The outside of the exhibit is adorned with a makeshift blue and red striped awning. The sign on the glass door reads: “Bienvenue!” In the front of the tiny room sits an antique-looking wooden table. On the table are reference materials, such as pamphlets and brochures about the exhibit that visitors can take home with them. Also on the table stand three golden panels that give an introduction to the exhibit.

In the 1890s, after French journalists were given much more leverage about what they could print, celebrity culture took off in print media. Actors and actresses became associated with images that popular artists created for them. During this time, print culture became dependent on the modern celebrity.

The entire left wall of the exhibit is covered by a red velvet theater curtain with gold tassels. Hanging from the curtain are five large and colorful posters with illustrations of French actresses. To the right of the wall sit two wooden chairs upholstered in black leather, behind them looms an old, almost ratty-looking lamp.

The exhibit is filled with class display cases lined with yards of navy velvet. Inside are books, drawings, political campaign and theater posters and reviews. Almost all of them are illustrations; hardly any are photos.

Among many other French celebrities, the exhibit features Sarah Bernhardt, an independent French stage actress and Marie Louise Fuller, an American dancer and native of Illinois who changed her name to Loie Fuller and achieved spectacular success in Paris after performing in “Fire Dance” in 1982 at the Folies Bergere.

Many other French stage actors, cabaret dancers, and even politicians are featured in the exhibit. The materials are drawn from journals including Le Rire, L’Assiette au beurre, Revue illustrée, L’Art décoratif, and L’Illustration. In addition to materials from the Gorman Collection, the exhibit includes materials from the University of Minnesota Libraries general collection.

The Gorman Rare Art Book Collection was born out of a gift to support the University Libraries’ art book collection by alumnus Francis Gorman when he died in 1981. The annual Gorman exhibits are supported by the Francis V. Gorman Art Library Endowment, the University of Minnesota Libraries and, in part, by participating departments.