?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
LESLIE CARTER. 1908. 81 3/4x29 3/4 inches. Strobridge, Cincinnati. Condition B+: repaired tears, restoration, overpainting and minor losses in margins and image. Two-sheets. Framed. Leslie Carter was an extravagant woman and want-to-be actress whose incredible success was mainly due to her charms and the liberal way she wielded them. Both Mucha and the author of this play (which was a huge flop, despite the wonderful poster) were both taken by her wiles and never got paid for their work. For this poster, one of the few that Mucha designed while living in America from 1904-1912, the artist is clearly harking back to the designs which mark the earlier posters of his career that he designed for Sarah Bernhardt, as the tall, thin format of the poster, the drape of the gown, the halo behind the actress' head and the crown of flowers are all reminiscent of his work in the late 1890s. Mucha had clearly lost nothing of his ability to design a great theater poster (although one can't help questioning the green of the actress' face and shoulders). Curiously the name of the production, which was Kassa<>, appears nowhere on the image. The poster, printed by Strobridge, is signed "from a design by Mucha", most likely had the artist been on the press he would have corrected this detail. Rennert / Weill 94, Mucha, A55.
