Books and Art

Polaire reading in bed. Polaire was the stage name used by French singer and actress Émilie Marie Bouchaud (1874–1939).

Polaire was naturally slender, endowed with the ”sinewy, muscular body of a little Arab” and a ”rib-cage like a Spanish bolero.” Her supposed ugliness – her large hands, large feet, thick mouth and long nose – were flaunted by her promoters. She posed as an enemy of ”civilisation,” and cultivated, on stage, a sensually barbaric style.