?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 700 - $ 1,000
SENGA. Circa 1908. 53x383/4 inches. Ch. Verneau, Paris. Condition B+: tears, creases and some staining in image; vertical fold; wooden dowels along top and bottom margins. Among Bofa's regular clients was Dranem, one of the most famous café concert stars of the era. Dranem's trademark little hat, small jacket, checkered pants, big shoes and irrational humor were imitated by many other performers, including the young Maurice Chevalier and, apparently, Senga. For this poster, Senga's clown-like face is caricatured in a Dranem-style hat, and in his arms he is holding a little stuffed dog with a button nose, wearing the same hat. The background is filled with their shadows, as if illuminated by a spotlight on stage. Senga appears to have copied more than just Dranem's appearance, as the same image appears on the sheet music cover to one of Senga's songs, le Tour du Machin, which credits the tune as being from the "repertoire Dranem" (San Millan p. 147).
