Unknown talents of Sarah Bernhardt: How an outrageous actress sculpted sensual sculptures and wrote books

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The whole world knows legendary Sarah Bernhardt as the greatest actress of her time. Extravagant and incomprehensible, she was the muse of many living artists, composers, writers, as well as an unsurpassed master of outrageous. However, few people know her as a sculptor. Yes, yes, this fragile woman was a master of chisels, she tried herself in painting and literature. 175 years have passed since her birth and almost a century after her death, and the legendary image of the actress still intrigues, delights and shocks our contemporaries.

Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) at the birth of Henriette Rosine Bernhardt - French theater diva, the first silent film actress, writer and sculptor. She managed to captivate the hearts of millions of viewers, playing only in French. Her unique timbre and power of voice made it possible to transform into any role. And what is interesting, at the end of her life, she managed to play the roles of young girls and boys. And even when she was well over 70, she quite successfully played the image of the young Juliet.

Once ascending to Olympus of fame, Sarah Bernhardt, for a long time retained the title of "the most famous actress in the history of the theater." She created the world around her, breaking all sorts of stereotypes. - under such a motto, this fragile eccentric woman went through her entire life.

The eccentricities of the legendary Sarah

The amazing life of the extraordinary and unpredictable, magnificent Sarah Bernhardt was covered with legends and full of various oddities. One of the shocking facts of her life was that from a young age she was obsessed with the inevitability of death. And all because from the very birth she had poor health, she was often sick for a long time. In addition, her terrible thinness and an incessant cough that threatened to turn into tuberculosis worried the doctors very much, and from year to year they predicted a quick death for the frail child.

So, having got used to this thought, the girl somehow managed to persuade her mother to buy her a coffin. And what is interesting, Sarah will never part with this subject reminding her of inevitability. The actress in subsequent years will take him with her on all tours, take on all tours and travels, and sometimes even sleep in it.

Obsessive thoughts of death even prompted Sarah to be photographed lying in a coffin in white clothes, with closed eyes and strewn with flowers. This photo was issued in large editions for some time and was sold as a postcard around the world.

However, death in all its manifestations was the actress's favorite hobby-horse on stage. As a rule, in the final scenes, she skillfully portrayed the death of one or another heroine, under the general sobbing of the audience. Juliet, Desdemona, Marguerite Gaultier, Cleopatra, Adrienne Lecouvreur, Jeanne d'Arc - quite a large list of characters played by the actress and with whom each time she passed away and returned to the stage with triumph for the next performance.

Unrestrainedly attracted by the other world, Sarah for many years kept in her house not only the coffin, but also the skeleton with the skull presented to her by Victor Hugo. The writer knew about the weirdness of the actress and decided that such a gift would delight her. And he made the right decision.

And what is curious, Sarah, having a passion for this kind of things, at one time was seriously fascinated by the anatomical structure of a person: she diligently attended the school of anatomy and sometimes visited the morgues in Paris. Later, when she became interested in sculpting sculptures, knowledge in this area was very useful to her.

Sarah Bernhardt - professional sculptor, writer, film actress

Sarah Bernhardt's new talent as a sculptor was discovered quite by accident. So, in the late 1860s, the sculptor Roland Mathieu-Meunier, sculpting a bust of the famous actress, was surprised at how a woman subtly, with knowledge of the matter, gave him advice. And finally, the shocked master invited his model to try his hand at sculpting. His advice was not only taken into account, but also began to be implemented.

Sarah was twenty-five when she began to take her first lessons in craftsmanship from the same Roland Mathieu-Meunier and the sculptor Emilio Francesca.

The theatrical diva, brilliantly transformed into dramatic images on the stage, chose the same complex themes for her sculptural works. Often, Love and Death were the main images of her sculptures, the most complex in content and compositional solution, and sometimes tragic in the storyline.

- so wrote the eyewitness Pierre Veron about Sarah.

In the iron will and perseverance of a fragile-looking woman who was seriously involved in sculpting, many saw a protest and violation of all generally accepted rules. Sarah's new infatuation was attributed to her vanity and desire to provoke the public into even greater admiration for her talents.

Over the years, unfortunately, the work of Sarah Bernhardt, the sculptor, was undeservedly forgotten, but at the end of the 19th century, her creations aroused great admiration both among the public and among critics. For almost two decades, Sarah Bernhardt presented her sculptural compositions at the Paris Salon, took part in exhibitions in London, New York, Philadelphia, and also exhibited her works at World Exhibitions - in Chicago (1893) and Paris in (1900).

To date, it is known about the existence of fifty sculptures of Sarah, kept in private collections and museums. By the way, the actress was fond of painting, but did not achieve impressive results.

And finally, I would like to note that Sarah also had an extraordinary gift of a writer, from her pen came out autobiographical books "Memoirs of a Chair", "My Double Life", as well as several plays. She also became one of the first theater actresses to star in silent films. And I must say, cinema is not a theater, everything is much more complicated. And Sarah returned to the stage again.

With her talented playing, Bernard literally captivated and drove the male half of the audience crazy. It was rumored that the actress knew a lot about love relationships and managed to seduce almost all the monarchs of Europe and even the Pope himself. However, she herself was not averse to telling reporters about her next "victories".

And once in 1905, during a tour in Brazil, the actress had an accident. She seriously injured her leg, and 10 years later she had to be amputated. It seemed that life was about to collapse, but physical illness did not break courageous Sarah. Moreover, she did not even leave the stage, but continued to appear on the stage in her favorite performances, sometimes overcoming severe pain and torment. So, "Lady with Camellias" Sarah played while sitting and lying in bed. And what can I say, a truly amazing woman who, struggling with prophecies and manic fears, lived a long enough life. Her heart stopped beating at 78 years old.

Sarah left on her last journey as she lived - beautifully. Thousands of admirers accompanied her, and the road along which the body was carried was literally paved with camellias, her favorite flowers.

Bonus. The fate of "Ophelia" - a brilliant creation of a French actress

Exactly two years ago, a bas-relief sculpture carved from Ophelia Carrara marble by legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt was presented at Sotheby’s auction. This resonant event brought back the former interest in the famous French woman as a sculptor. And her talented marble creation with an initial cost of 50 - 70 thousand pounds, went under the hammer for a record amount for Sarah's legacy - 308 thousand.

The delightful Ophelia was first seen by the public during Sarah Bernhardt's 1881 American tour. And a little later, the original was donated by the actress to the Royal Theater in Copenhagen. Then Sarah sculpted two more marble copyright copies, with a slight difference from the original.

And curiously, one of the copies of Ophelia was donated by the actress to the Viennese artist Hans Makart, after whose death in 1885 his entire collection and bas-relief were sold at auction, including. Bohdan Khanenko, a famous Ukrainian industrialist, collector and philanthropist, became the owner of "Ophelia". Thus, the author's copy of the famous creation of the French actress ended up in Kiev. And today, in the capital's Museum of Khanenko, you can see it among other exhibits.

Continuing the theme of the brilliant French actress of the 19th century: four major roles in the life of Sarah Bernhardt.