The great, ghostly Leslie Carter is here adorned with some of the most exquisitely detailed jewelry ever designed by Mucha for lithographic immortality. But who was this otherwise unknown goddess?
Mrs. Leslie Carter was thought of as the "Sarah Bernhardt of America" at the turn of the century, an international stage star of the "emotional" school of acting. Leslie Carter was a "captivating woman who desired to become a great actress... She gained a fortune after a marriage to, and later divorce from, a billionaire, Leslie Carter, whose name she retained" (Lendl/Prague, p. 266).
"Mucha used the tall format and style of his Bernhardt posters in this design for the American silent film and stage actress, Mrs Leslie Carter (née Caroline Louise Dudley). The poster announces her new play, Kassa, which tells the tale of a Hungarian virgin who intends to join a convent when she is seduced by a prince and falls pregnant. The prince abandons her and she loses her mind. Mucha portrays the stunned Kassa surrounded by symbols: lilies to symbolise her former purity; red hearts to symbolise love and wreaths of thorns to symbolise suffering." (Mucha Foundation)
"Mucha contributed over 250 designs for the project, including stage, costume, and scenery design, but the play was a failure and Carter went bankrupt. Neither Mucha nor Long, the author, received an honorarium." (Jack Rennert)
Alphonse Mucha self-portrait in front of the poster intended for Sarah Bernhardt, in her studio located rue du Val-de-Grâce in Paris, around 1901. Public domain photo.
