21 1/2x16 3/4 inches, 54 1/2x42 1/2 cm. Eugène Verneau, Paris. Condition A-: minor creases and slight foxing in image. Matted and framed.
The Critic's Getting Up was a satirical play performed at the Theatre d'Application. The image is of a young woman whispering into the ear of a statue. For the Parisian avant-garde in Paris at the time, the statue's face would have been immediately recognizable: it is a caricature of the critic Francisque Sarcey, whom everybody loved to tease and who was an easy target for criticism himself. With features that were prone to caricature, and as an unofficial whipping boy of the avant-garde, Sarcey was also depicted in several posters by Jules-Alexandre Grün. Most likely, Sarcey was also a target in this play. DFP-I 477 (var), Reims 751, Hillier p. 78.
