The Vanishing Lady is a window display created by Charles Morton for a Sacramento department store in 1898. L. Frank Baum celebrated it in 1900 in a book of window decorations published the same year as his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The illusion consists of a bust of a living woman, appearing above a pedestal, then seeming to disappear inside it, only reappearing wearing a new outfit. Similar to the "Sphinx" illusion created in London in 1865, the installation is based on an optical illusion using mirrors. The popular stage illusion of the same name, created in Paris in 1886 and later revived by Georges Méliès in L'Escamotage d'une dame at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin, inspired the name and theme of the installation. At the first level, the attraction described by Baum bears witness to changing consumer trends at the end of the 19th century, particularly in the United States, and to the status of women in society at the time. Baum presents this device as a model of what a display window should be, and it is also a frequently cited example of spontaneous intermediality the adoption of pre-existing cultural series by an emerging medium to create new attractions. This text examines the use of stage illusions in storefronts, combined with references to the film industry, which was emerging at the time, using well-known illusions. This convergence indicates the technical exchange that existed at the time between the performing arts, cinema, and shop window design. It raises the question of whether the consumers of urban spectacle at the time were naive or fascinated by the processes used. Baum's interest in this attraction also reveals the connection between this commercial aspect of his work, before he gained recognition as a specialist in children's fairy tales, and his later works, particularly the Oz books. Several critics have noted the internal coherence between Baum's concept of window art and the themes he later developed in his practice of intermediality, notably in his cinematic experiments, and transmediality, which involves the coherent development of a single theme across several media. Finally, the convergence of the theme of the disappearing woman across several media raised questions about the meaning of this theme, as well as interpretations of the relationship to women inherent in illusion and cinema performances. This is particularly evident in Baum's work, known for his proximity to feminist theses.
From theater to shop windows Baum's transition from theater to commerce to display science came when there was a growing interest in window displays in the U.S., and he adopted these techniques from the theater world.
Development of window art
Until the late 1880s, visual advertising was not widely accepted and was often associated with the circus. Before 1885, there were no window displays to speak of. Electric lighting was poor, glass quality was low, and products were piled up in shop windows or, weather permitting, in the street in front of the stores. In many cases, stores displayed nothing in their windows because they believed that showing their products there might have an undesirable effect or did not know how to arrange them.
By contrast, by the early 1890s, window displays, especially in department stores, were designed with architectural precision to be appropriately arranged, according to an 1892 trade publication. This transformation was part of a wider context: department stores, aiming to become places of festive consumption, were transforming their appearance and adopting new technologies that emphasized color and light, thanks in particular to the use of glass and electricity. As William Leach points out, mirrors of all kinds made their appearance, helping to create an illusion of abundance by infinitely multiplying the reflection of goods and customers. Additionally, exterior window displays were enhanced by the use of color and electric lighting, which benefited from new glass manufacturing techniques that enabled the production of less expensive, larger, stronger, and clearer panes.
These innovations led to the development of the new profession of window dresser, which was supposed to combine "artistic feeling" with "inventive genius" and "mechanical skill", not to mention "business sense". In 1889, J. H. Wilson Marriott published what he claimed to be the first American manual ever compiled for window dressers. From 1893 onwards, Harry Harman published the first American periodical entirely dedicated to window dressers in Louisville. Emily Orr observed that the trade was then almost exclusively male. She noted a gendered dichotomy between male producers of window displays and female consumers of the products displayed there. This development of the art of display was part of a boom in product presentation techniques that lasted until the late 1890s, including the artistic poster, the painted billboard, and the electric sign. Arthur Fraser was hired by Harry Gordon Selfridge, the manager of Marshall Field's, in 1895 to lead window decoration. In the late 1890s, he designed themed shop windows that resembled miniature theaters facing the sidewalk. The staging was so elaborate that the unveiling of six red-themed window displays in 1897 sparked a "red epidemic". According to Cesare Silla, the shop windows of this period were perceived as veritable stages, on which the drama of social life was portrayed, due to their representation of social life and a new urban identity. This led shopkeepers to draw inspiration from the mechanical means used by the theater. The analogy with theater is made by the frequent use of curtains, which are raised in the morning to allow a view of the display and lowered in the evening. The analogy with theater is made by the frequent use of curtains, which are raised in the morning to allow a view of the display and lowered in the evening. The theatrical practice also inspires the staging techniques of the showcase, which incorporates some of the developments of Victorian theater, which, thanks to a design emphasizing flexibility, aims to strike the audience with frequent changes of scenery, in particular through the use of mechanical means to create illusion, such as rail-mounted scenery or trapdoors.
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