Appropriating Japonisme at the 1900 Exposition: Sada Yacco, Loie Fuller, and the ‘Geishas’ of Le Panorama du Tour du Monde

Abstract

ABSTRACT Japanese exhibits filled the 1900 Paris Exposition, from the official pavilion at the Trocadéro to ‘geishas' performing in the Panorama du Tour du Monde. The highlight for French reporters, however, was actress Sada Yacco's performances at the Théâtre Loïe Fuller on the rue de Paris. The former geisha joined American Fuller in creating original spectacles that captivated audiences not as Japanese ‘ethnography', as in other exhibits, but as ‘art’. This article draws attention to the rhetorical and commercial strategies used by these women to attract audiences to their own unique artistic performances of Japonisme, Western creations inspired by Japanese traditions.