?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,500 - $ 3,500
JULES CHÉRET (1836-1932)
CARNAVAL / 1ER BAL MASQUÉ. 1894.
48¼x34½ inches, 122½x87½ cm. Chaix, Paris. Condition A / A-: minor expert restoration at edges and along vertical and horizontal folds.
Advertising a ball at the Paris Opera, Chéret uses a diagonal composition to build an exquisite ascendant crowd movement in the style of Tiepolo. The viewer's eye is further drawn to the diagonal by the color composition, in which the colors and details fade from bright and lively in the foreground to muted, fuzzy blues in the background. This poster was originally printed without lettering, because it was slated to be used for three different masked balls (on the 6th and 20th of January and the 3rd of February). For each of these events, the lettering was added afterwards.
