JULES CHÉRET (1836-1932) THÉÂTRE DE L'OPÉRA 1898.
48 3/4x34 inches, 124x86 1/2 cm. Chaix, Paris.
Condition A-: unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds; minor restoration and overpainting in margins and corners.
Starting in 1892 Chéret took on the commission to advertise the masked balls held every season at the Théâtre de l'Opéra. He executed a different poster for them almost every year through 1898. These images were printed without text, so that throughout the season separate imprints (bearing different dates and venues, as four balls were held each year) could be added to the posters. This is the rarest, and arguably the best, of all his Bal Masque posters. The image is perfectly laid out, combining elegance, romance, charm, beauty and sex appeal in a light-hearted, ebullient manner. This particular variant, for the fourth ball, is previously unrecorded
. Broido 302 (var), DFP-II 264 (var).