JULES CHÉRET (1836-1932) EXPOSITION DES ARTS INCOHERENTS. 1886. 46 3/4x33 inches, 119x84 cm. Chaix, Paris. Condition B+ / B: repaired tears, creases and restoration in margins and image; vertical and horizontal folds. Framed. The Incoherents was an artist group formed as an ironic counterpoint to the serious, academic movements of the late 19th century. Founded in 1882 by the artist Jules Lévy, the group subscribed to the made-up concept of "le arts incohérents": their earliest exhibition was "drawings by people who can't draw." What was conceived as a hoax, however, achieved extraordinary renown, as their first show was attended by Renoir, Pissarro, Manet and even Richard Wagner. Many of the "crazy" and "wild" works that the Incoherents presented can now be seen as extremely early precursors to dadism, surrealism and other avant-garde 20th-century styles. By the middle of the 1880s, the Incoherents had become so successful that they could hold an exhibition at Paris' Eden Theatre and secure Jules Chéret to design their poster. He delivers a poster worthy of such an irreverent group, and perhaps one of his funniest and most absurd images. A line of artists is shown jumping into the smiling mouth of the moon and being expelled from the dark side. The figure at the bottom right is Jules Lévy himself. Broido 432, Reims 352, Maindron 351, Exposons p. 12, Chéret 552.
