Sarah Bernhardt, Yvette Guilbert and Loïe Fuller are not only known for their own artistry: they are also known for the artworks that Toulouse-Lautrec made of them. What probably few people know is that they also made frequent guest appearances on the stages of fin-de-siècle Hungary. They performed at the Hungarian Theatre, the Comedy Theatre and the Somossy Orpheum, and Hungarian journalists conducted interviews with them. Even back then, the Hungarian audience was responsive to every novelty.
This exhibition assembled from materials from the Museum of Fine Arts Budapest, which presents Toulouse-Lautrec's lithographs blown up and displayed on pillars, however, will not only introduce the Müpa Budapest audience to contemporary French actresses, but also, for example, to a pale and elegant lady, as she appears in the picture, named Clara Ward. Appearing beside this filthy-rich American millionaress, in the recesses of the theatre box, is her seducer and later husband, Jancsi Rigó. It was in 1896, while making a guest appearance at Restaurant Payard in Paris, that the virtuoso violinist turned the head of the American lady, then the wife of the Belgian Prince de Caraman-Chimay. The "prímás” left his own wife, Mariska Barcza, for her - their divorce proceedings made for a media frenzy. The new marriage lasted almost a decade, and during their time together they apparently happily burned through millions of dollars. Janci Rigó also had his opulently wealthy wife to thank for his Stradivarius.


Presented by: Müpa Budapest