Skip to Content

“Théodora” Souvenir Booklet

Posted On February 27, 2017 | 21:27 pm | by jamesc | Permalink
James N. Carder (March 2017)

  

René Lalique, Sarah Bernhard as Theodora, 1902 Souvenir Booklet. Dumbarton Oaks Archives Ephemera Collection (AR.EP.PP.0279)
René Lalique, Sarah Bernhard as Theodora, 1902 Souvenir Booklet. Dumbarton Oaks Archives Ephemera Collection (AR.EP.PP.0279)

The Dumbarton Oaks Archives is building a collection of ephemera that relates to the institution’s three programs of study. A recent acquisition for this collection is an illustrated souvenir booklet printed for the 1902 revival of Victorien Sardou’s play, Théodora, which in 1884 had helped rebuild the fame and fortune of its star, Sarah Bernhardt. Théodora soon traveled the world, including America, bringing to its enthusiastic audiences a theatrical Byzantium complete with Oriental mystery, lavishly decorated spaces, and, especially, luxurious clothing and jewelry made from gold and colorful gems. For this reason, the booklet offers us an important chronicle of the turn-of-the-century popular culture perception of the Byzantine world.

The booklet is more a theater souvenir than a program—there is no cast list or enumeration of the play’s eight scenes, for example. But the ten pages of illustrations offer an interesting glimpse into the props, costumes, stage sets, and even the music of this widely popular play.

The cover has an image of Bernhardt as Theodora painted in 1894 by the French jewelry and glass designer, René Lalique (1860–1945). Theodora, her head backed by a cruciform halo, wears an imaginative crown ringed by imperial eagles, which, more menacingly, are also seen on the pendilia that hang across the empress’s ears. Included in the booklet are sketches by Georges Clairin (1843–1919), a French painter and illustrator and Bernhardt’s reputed lover, who designed the poster for the play’s 1902 revival.

Also found are prop designs by René Foy, a French jewelry designer, and examples of the costumes of Théophile Thomas (1846?–1916), originally designed for the 1884 production. Among the set designs are those of Alfred Lemeunier, Marcel Jambon (1848–1908), Alexandre Bailly, and Amable (Dauphin-Amable Petit) (1846–1916). Several bars of the incidental music that Jules Massenet (1842–1912) composed for the 1884 premier are also included in the booklet.

Several pages from the booklet are on display in the exhibition, Imagining the Empress: Selections from the Dumbarton Oaks Ephemera Collection, which opens in late April.

Theodora Souvenir Program (p. 1)

Theodora Souvenir Program (p. 2)

Theodora Souvenir Program (p. 3)

Theodora Souvenir Program (pp. 4-5)

Theodora Souvenir Program (p. 6)

Theodora Souvenir Program (p. 7)

Theodora Souvenir Program (p. 8)

Theodora Souvenir Program (back cover)