Scaled-down poster Ruby Betteley, Munich, October 1912

We know very little about the Englishwoman Ruby Betteley. She was a principle dancer, who for several years performed and taught in Germany. At least for certain periods she adopted the “Serpentine Dances”, using colorful, swaying veils, which Loïe Fuller (1862–1928) had been performing since 1893 to great international success. Much like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) 20 years before him, Emil Pirchan (1884–1957) used the large surface area and amorphous appearance of the dance dress to radicalize his artistic expression. The costumes for the advertized dance event were also designed by Pirchan, but can no longer be reconstructed today.

IR, 2021