Vintage Black Glamour

lascasartoris:

carolathhabsburg:

Beauty in riding habits. Late 1880s

Selika Lazevski photographed by Felix Nadar in 1891. 

This image was floating around Tumblr at the end of last year and I thought I’d do my part to share more information about the identity of this mysterious horsewoman. 

Her name is Selika Lazevski she was photographed by Felix Nadar in 1891. 

This image is likely to have been taken from Documents 4 a Surrealist art magazine edited by Georges Bataille, published in Paris in 1929, were she is credited as Mademoiselle Lovzeski.

But thats about it!

SusannaForrest.wordpress.com sheds more light on the possible origins of her name.”Sélika was the name of the heroine of Giacomo Meyerbeer’s 1865 opera, L’Africaine, and was adopted as a stage name by the first Black woman to sing at the White House, the coloratura soprano Madame Marie Selika Williams. According to this site, the opera was hugely popular among African Americans, and Selika became a fashionable name.”  

Some more Nadar photos of Selika on the French Ministry of Culture’s archive database: 

Photo credit: Ministère de la Culture (France)

Photo credit: Ministère de la Culture (France)

References:
Negrophilia: Avant-Garde Paris and Black Culture in the 1920s by Petrine Archer Straw 

More photos: Ministère de la Culture (France)

http://susannaforrest.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/whos-that-lady/

http://ridingaside.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/more-informationa-dn-pictures.html

Entre to Black Paris - http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=341252402552397
entreetoblackparis.blogspot.com

http://carolathhabsburg.tumblr.com/post/11990607230/beauty-in-riding-clothes-s-background-history

Selika Lazevski, a 19th century equestrian (Remember the mysterious “Beauty in riding habits”?) photographed by Felix Nadar in 1891. Well, we finally have a name!  Selika Lazevski and she was an écuyère who performed haute école - which means she was an equestrian who rode high school dressage in French circuses in the 19th century. She was photographed by Felix Nadar in 1891. Thanks to author Susanna Forrest, who shared great details on Selika Lazevski and the possible origins of her first name on her blog.