Curio Cabinet | January 05, 2022

Strange Beauty: Barbette and the Art of Transformation

In 1912, at twenty-three, French writer Jean Cocteau collaborated with some of the most talented
artists in Europe when he wrote the libretto for The Blue God, a ballet performed by Diaghilev’s
Ballets Russes. Nijinsky danced the title role, Reynaldo Hahn wrote the music, and Léon Bakst
designed the set and costumes. A decade later, when Cocteau wrote to his friends about a terrific
new performer called Barbette at the Casino de Paris, they took note. To the Belgian music critic
Paul Collaer, Cocteau wrote, “A music-hall act called Barbette has been keeping us enthralled
for a fortnight.” Cocteau described the young American from Texas as a graceful daredevil on
the trapeze and one of the most beautiful entertainers in theater. “No mere acrobat in women’s
clothes. He blends a tightrope dancer’s skill and perilous performance with the creativity of a
poet. An angel, a flower, a bird. We all found him an absolute knockout.”