?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
[THEATRE DE L'OPERA CARNAVAL.] 1894. Before Lettering. 47 3/4x33 3/4 inches. Condition A-: minor repaired tears in margins; abrasion in image. Framed. This poster before lettering illustrates that Cheret's posters were based on truly artistic principles and were created as decorative prints first, and commercial art second. For this image, Cheret uses a diagonal composition to build one of his exquisite ascendant crowd movements in the style of Tiepolo. The viewer's eye is further drawn to the diagonal by the color composition, in which the colors (and the detail) fade from bright and lively in the foreground to muted, fuzzy blues in the background. Although not intended to be a decorative panel, this poster was originally printed without lettering. This is because it was slated to be used for three different masked balls (on the 6th and 20th of January and then on the 3rd of February). For each of these events the lettering was added afterwards. Broido 288, Maindron 246, DFP II 236.
![[THEATRE DE LOPERA CARNAVAL.] 1894. Before Lettering. 47x33 inches.](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//416\511416.jpg)
