JULES-ALEXANDRE GRÜN (1868-1938) LES CHANSONNIERS DE MONTMARTRE. 1897. 43x55 inches, 110x140 cm. G. Gerin, Fils, Paris. Condition B / B+: restored losses, repaired tears, creases and restoration in margins and image; vertical and horizontal folds. Japan. In the 1890s Grün was living in Montmartre and had become an integral part of the area's artistic scene. He was also designing posters for most of the Parisian café-concerts. In 1897 an aggressive entrepreneur "attempted an outright takeover of the highly flourishing, but limited world of small cabaret owners. At great expense, he built a spacious theatre in the garden next to the Elysée Montmartre and hired away the best cabaret singers [from the area's other smaller venues]" (Grün p. 29). Grün was commissioned to design a poster for the club's opening that showed a gallery of all the big names and stars who would be performing there. Grün also inserted his own portrait, at the far right. The club, Trianon, didn't last very long, as the performances that were geared towards smaller audiences never worked on a larger stage. But the poster remains a rare document, perhaps the only one on which all of the major stars of the Montmartre cabarets, at the height of their popularity, appear together. Grün p. 29.
