Jane Avril
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Jane Avril (9 June 1868Template:Snds17 January 1943) was a French can-can dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and a frequent subject of painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's art. Extremely thin and "given to jerky movements and sudden contortions", she was nicknamed La Mélinite, after an explosive.<ref name="Independent">Template:Cite news</ref>
BiographyEdit
Early lifeEdit
She was born Jeanne Louise Beaudon on 9Template:NbspJune 1868 in Belleville, a neighborhood in the 20th arrondissement of Paris<ref name="19th">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="BNF">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (though her biographer, Jose Shercliff—whose account of the dancer's life is highly romanticised—employed the surname “Richepin” in her publication).<ref name="OLM">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her mother Léontine Clarisse Beaudon was a prostitute who was known as "La Belle Élise," and her father was an Italian aristocrat named Luigi de Font who separated from her mother when Avril was two years old.<ref name="DAM">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="De Lafayette">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Avril was raised by her grandparents in the countryside until her mother took her back with the intent of turning her into a prostitute.<ref name="OLM" />
Living in poverty and abused by her alcoholic mother, she ran away from home as a teenager,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Efn and was eventually admitted to the Salpêtrière Hospital in December 1882,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> with the movement disorder known as "St Vitus' Dance", with symptoms that included nervous tics, thrashing of limbs, and rhythmic swaying.<ref name="Telegraph" /><ref name="Rennert's">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Under the care of Dr.Template:NbspJean-Martin Charcot, an expert on "female hysteria", she received various kinds of treatment, and claimed in her biography that, when she discovered dance at a social ball for employees and patients at the hospital celebrating Mardi Gras, she was cured; a modern biography of her argues that this story is unlikely, however, as she was discharged in June 1884, months before any Mardi Gras celebration would take place.<ref name="OLM" />
Regardless, she incorporated some of the mannerisms into her dance style, but it is unclear if she was actually afflicted by the condition,Template:Efn or if it was simply a marketing strategy, as nervous conditions such as hysteria were associated with elegance by writers of the time (or both).<ref name="Chapin">Template:Cite journal</ref> She was certainly known for her unusual style, which was described as "an orchid in a frenzy."<ref name="Telegraph" /> The Belgian author Frantz Jourdain described her as "this exquisite creature, nervous and neurotic, the captivating flower of artistic corruption and of sickly grace."<ref name="Chapin" />
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On leaving the hospital, after a failed romance with a doctor, Avril pondered committing suicide, but was taken in by Parisian prostitutes.<ref name="OLM" /> Working at whatever day jobs were available, including as a secretary to Arsène Houssaye,<ref name="De Lafayette" />Template:Rp as a rider or acrobat at the Template:Ill and as a cashier at the Exposition Universelle in 1889,<ref name="DAM" /> at night, she pursued a career in dancing by performing at local dance halls and cafés-concerts. In 1888, she met the writer René Boylesve (1867Template:Nsndns1926) who became her lover.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Using the stage name Jane Avril, suggested by an English lover,<ref name="Courtauld">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> she built a reputation that eventually allowed her to make a living as a full-time dancer. During this time, she became known by various nicknames: La Mélinite after an explosive, L'Etrange ("The Strange One"), and Jane la Folle ("Jane the Crazy").<ref name="Telegraph" /><ref name="DAM" />
Peak careerEdit
Hired by the Moulin Rouge nightclub in 1889, within a few years, she headlined at the Jardin de Paris, one of the major cafés-concerts on the Champs-Élysées. To advertise the show, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec painted her portrait on a poster that elevated her stature in the entertainment world even further.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Lautrec captured her mental and physical absorption in her movements.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The popularity of the can-can became such that Avril travelled with a dance troupe to perform in London in 1896.<ref name="Courtauld" />
In 1895, Louise Weber, one of the star dancers of Paris at the time, known by her stage name La Goulue ("The Glutton"), left the Moulin Rouge, and Avril was chosen to replace her.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Graceful, soft-spoken, and melancholic, Avril gave a dance presentation that was the opposite of the very boisterous La Goulue.<ref name="Shone 2011 551–551">Template:Cite journal</ref> Nevertheless, the club's patrons adored her, and she became one of the most recognizable names in Parisian nightlife. Unlike most dancers, she frequently performed alone. Avril's elegant performance quality was called "Botticelli-like" by painter William Rothenstein.<ref name="Shone 2011 551–551"/> A younger dancer, May Milton, arrived in Paris in 1895 and she and Avril had a short but passionate affair.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> From another liaison, she bore a son,<ref name="19th" /> and beginning in 1901, appeared in theatre, taking roles in Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, as well as a stage adaptation of Claudine at School by Colette.<ref name="DAM" />
Toulouse-Lautrec also depicted Avril as a private individual. He frequently painted her as an audience member, or walking in the streets of Paris. In one painting he shows her leaving the Moulin Rouge. Avril was not just Toulouse-Lautrec's muse, but she was also part of his social circle.<ref name="Shone 2011 551–551"/>
Life after performingEdit
In 1905, Avril retired from performing altogether and in 1911 married the French artist, Maurice Biais (1872Template:Nsndns1926), who adopted her son. They moved to a home in Jouy-en-Josas on the outskirts of Paris. However, Biais suffered from lung disease and the couple separated in the 1920s, with Biais moving to the south of France, where he died.<ref name="19th" /> She was bankrupted by the Great Depression and died on Template:Death date and age in poverty and obscurity.<ref name="DAM" /><ref name="BNF" /> She was interred in the Biais family plot in Paris' Père Lachaise Cemetery.<ref name="19th" />
In popular cultureEdit
Zsa Zsa Gabor portrayed Avril in the original Moulin Rouge (1952);<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> half a century later, the semi-fictionalized character was reinterpreted by Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! (2001).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Avril is one of the characters in Per Olov Enquist's book The Book of Blanche and Marie, which portrays the lives of Marie "Blanche" Wittman and Marie Curie.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- Jane Avril of the Moulin Rouge – dedicated website
- Toulouse-Lautrec in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a full-text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which contains material on Jane Avril
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