LES ESPRITS AU CHAMP DE FOIRE : LA MÉTEMPSYCOSE ET SON EMPREINTE

Abstract

Abstract
A plaster or stone bust transformed into an animated woman, a skeleton and a bouquet of
flowers, and then back again to a woman. This sequence of images, produced by a complex
interplay of reflecting mirrors and lanterns, was presented by several fairground artists.
According to press reports and archival sources on the continent dating back to 1887, this
attraction was named as “Métempsycose”, “le rêve de Pygmalion”, “le secret de Pygmalion” or
“le triomphe des dieux de l’Olympe”. It refined and elaborated the classical Pepper’s Ghost
with better mirroring techniques and seamless dissolving views. Its narrative form and
iconographic sequence expressed a spiritual belief in reincarnation and evolution. By examining
both the technique and the narrative, métempsycose is revealed as part of a visual