CONCERT DUCLERC. 1896. 64x233/4 inches. Chaix, Paris. Condition B+: restored losses in bottom margin; staining in bottom left corner; horizontal folds; creases in margins. This image is certainly not one of the most commercial of the Art Nouveau posters. But it is unquestionably a rare and interesting historical document. In 1896 Marguerite Duclerc, a former singer at the Concert des Ambassadeurs, reopened the Cabaret des Decadents at 16 bis rue Fontaine, in Montmartre. His macabre marketing scheme soon had all of Paris rushing to see "the act" that was the highlight of his show. When the curtain rose in the theatre, patrons were greeted by a man (the program cited his name as Joseph Durand) hanging, quite life-like (in a dead kind of way) at the end of a three meter long noose. After a few weeks of this scandalous performance the police closed the theatre down. Meunier's poster is a realistic description of the act as it was described in the press.
