EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE / LA GRANDE LUNETTE DE 1900.
51x37½ inches, 129½x95¼ cm. Charle Verneau, Paris. Condition B+: minor creases and repaired tears in margins; minor creases in image; unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds; blue stains at lower left margin.
Georges Leroux studied with artist Léon Bonnat and had a successful career as an academic painter, ultimately winning the coveted Prix de Rome in 1906. To the best of our knowledge this is the only poster he designed. The 1900 Exposition Universelle was a huge event that included hundreds of attractions spread out across many different pavilions. Easily 100 posters exist advertising these different events. Leroux's poster advertises the large telescope that was housed in the Optical Palais, which he depicts in the background. The main image is an allegorical representation of the telescope holding a large white moon, which would have been the major celestial body most frequently viewed through the telescope. Surviving cardboard souvenirs from that pavilion bear the inscription "La Lune À Un Mètre," "the moon at one meter," which sheds some light on how this amazing marvel was sold to an eager public. Leroux's poster is well balanced and elegant - everything you would expect from a skilled painter.
