LUCIEN METIVET (1863-1932) THE JANUARY CENTURY. 1895. 243/4x191/4 inches. Condition B+: tears along vertical and horizontal folds; minor tears in margins. Paper. This poster was the result of one of the earliest poster competitions in America. Based on the success of Grasset's poster for Napoleon (see lot 52), when The Century ran the serialization of William Milligan Sloan's History of Napoleon I, they held a competition in France. The artists were French and judges were all French members of the Academy. Among the unsuccessful entrants was Toulouse-Lautrec, who was so disappointed that he had 100 copies of his poster privately printed and distributed them to his friends. Margolin p. 20, DFP I 576, Reims 849.
