Medal Presented to Loïe Fuller by the French Government (1900): Art, History and Details

Medal Presented to Loïe Fuller by the French Government (1900) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Marie Alexandre Lucien Coudray (French, 1864–1932).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A temporary theater on the grounds of the 1900 Exposition Universelle was devoted to Loïe Fuller, who by that time had become a cultural icon. The theater’s interior was hung with draperies onto which a kaleidoscope of colors shone from stained glass windows and hidden lamps, evoking the diaphanous veils of her costumes. In the foyer was a gallery of paintings, drawings, and sculpture all depicting the dancer. Coudray’s medal, Orpheus at the Entrance to the Underworld, was struck to commemorate the world’s fair. This example of the famous Art Nouveau medal was engraved as a gift to Loïe Fuller.

Object facts

• Title: Medal Presented to Loïe Fuller by the French Government
• Date: 1900
• Creator attribution: Marie Alexandre Lucien Coudray (French, 1864–1932)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Diameter: 7 cm (2 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1978.116

Collection credit

Anonymous Gift

Further reading listed by the museum

• Harris, Margaret Haile. Loie Fuller, Magician of Light: A Loan Exhibition at the Virginia Museum, March 12-April 22, 1979. Richmond: The Museum, 1979.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.