Serpentine Dancer, Poster Design for Loie Fuller, Koloman Moser

A veiled dancer spins in a great sweep of violet and green silk, the fabric lifted into a long S curve above her head. Koloman Moser designed this poster around the famous serpentine dance of Loie Fuller, whose whirling gauze and colored stage light made her the sensation of the age. The figure is reduced to a dark, flattened silhouette, her face in profile, arms raised so the cloth fans out into a wide arc. Around her, flat panels of muted green and lilac fill the ground, and the lettering of the title sits at the edge like a design element in its own right. Everything is curve against curve, a rhythm of line that turns motion itself into the subject. Strong graphic shapes like these suit an entryway or a dining room, anywhere a single image can hold a wall with confidence.