Dec 19, 2007 - Sale 2133

Sale 2133 - Lot 11

Price Realized: $ 6,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500
JULES CHERET (1836-1932) FOLIES BERGERE / FLEUR DE LOTUS. 1893.
49 x 34 1/2 inches. Chaix. Paris.
Condition B+: restored loss along top edge; minor foxing in image.
This is one of the last posters Cheret designed for the Folies Bergére and it is also one of the most graceful. A showgirl, like all of Cheret's models "always smiling, sometimes a little giggly, often disheveled by the steps of the dance," (Abdy p. 31) in a diaphonous yellow dress, dances beside a bunch of orange flowers, which also appear in her hair. In the background, the rest of the chorus line appears in blue silhouette. "The very name of the Folies-Bergere evokes the flavor of Paris in the Belle Epoque perhaps more vividly than any other single establishment . . . [here] Cheret makes a spectacularly exuberant design, a masterpiece of graceful motion and pure joy." (Wine Spectator 7). Broido 126 and pl. 8, Maindron 114, Abdy p. 35, Reims 366.