DESIGNER UNKNOWN NOUMA-HAWA. Circa 1884. 50 1/2x39 inches, 128x99 cm. Emile Lévy, Paris. Condition B+: minor restored losses in margins and image and along unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds. Emile Levy, the proprietor of the Affiches Francaises printing house, provided numerous posters for the Parisian cafe-concerts, theatres, circuses and hippodromes. Nouma Howa was an animal tamer who made her first Parisian appearance in 1882 at the Cirque d'Hiver. She owned her own menagerie, with which she traveled and performed around Europe until she retired in 1915. In this stock poster, she is depicted as a powerful, beautiful woman "among her beasts."
