La belle époque, Courtesans, and the Orient Obsession

The city Margaretha fled to after her marriage crumbled was the perfect place to seek out the freedom and attention she so desired. Early twentieth century Paris — sometimes called la belle époque — was a place of consumption, bohemia, and the rich academic artist. After two centuries of unrest in France, it was a time of excitement and exploration, a chance for the French people to finally live comfortably and enjoy the new consumerist sentiments fostered by the bourgeois.^[7] With this came an interest in entertainment, including the theater, dances, burlesques, and other forms of performative art. In a time where female sexuality was slowly being pushed into the spotlight, striptease and nude dancing was becoming increasingly popular with courtesans as a way to seduce wealthy clients. High society viewed it as an artful way to exhibit the female form without accusations of vulgarity, though these dances certainly had their erotic undertones.^[8]

Much like the rest of the world, the belle époque Paris was fascinated by the Orient and incorporated it into their own cultural fabric.

All courtesans of the belle époque had their various gimmicks and theatrical methods of attracting a wealthy clientele. In addition to these, many courtesans utilized the relatively new technology of photography for self-promotional purposes. Unlike the paintings of the last few centuries, photographs were easily replicated and able to be circulated among the masses. Provocative photographs not only titillated the viewer, but served as a form of advertising as well. According to feminist Maria-Elena Buszek, suggestive portraits of performers “meant not only a place in the bourgeois collectors’ photo albums, but a headline in the papers,” much like the paparazzi photographs of celebrities today.^[9] Photography was a medium of such reproductive powers that some provocative portraits would be printed as postcards for public consumption. Some of these postcards — particularly in the case of Mata Hari — would show the woman in a state of undress, usually in the middle of performing a dance. Such blatant displays of female sexuality were still considered taboo, but paradoxically, these images of beautiful women undressing for the world were presented in such an artistic manner that their exhibitionist behavior was made acceptable.

Contemporary fashion may have also contributed to this surge of interest in public nudity and the striptease. Designer Paul Poiret was creating new, loose-fitting clothing that released women from the confines of their corsets.^[10] Inspired by the unstructured costumes of the East, these new fashions allowed the true human form to be more readily visible and for women to move more freely than ever before. These revealing clothes facilitated the acting and dancing community thriving in Paris, a group that was inherently tied to the demimonde.^[11] It was also evidence of the endless Western hunger for consuming Oriental goods. It was not uncommon during this period for women to dress in ethnic garb as a way of showing culture and wealth. Wearing exotic clothing and dressing in the guise of an Oriental woman — who had become a stereotype of her own that will be discussed later — was a way for Western women to break cultural boundaries while still retaining the privilege of being white.^[12] Mata Hari participated in this throughout her career, something that will be seen later in the analysis of her photographs.

Much like the rest of the world, the belle époque Paris was fascinated by the Orient and incorporated it into their own cultural fabric. However, their admiration of exoticism was much like that of a crowd watching a freak show. The version of Oriental culture that was understood in the public mind was often misguided, racist, and carried an inherent sense of superiority. The West saw the Orient as primitive, sexual, and passionate, in contrast to themselves, who represented restraint, rationality, and strict moral values.^[13]

The West asserted its dominance over the East in many ways besides pure colonialism. Painting a hyper-sexual portrait of harem life and objectifying Oriental women allowed the West to wield cultural power, establishing superiority over the East. Ottoman women that populated harems were often objectified by Western writers observing life in the Seraglio. Oriental women were stereotyped as being good tempered, charming, and naturally sexy. The Western view of the Oriental woman’s sexuality was paradoxical: she was both the abused innocent and the beautiful seductress, the virgin and the femme fatale.^[14] It gave her no choice but to be the victim of sexual despotism, or to be the master of her own sexuality who would be viewed as immoral through a Western lens. This simplified view of Oriental culture came to shape the attitudes of Western generations for years to come, particularly in the belle époque.