Jules Chéret is considered the father of the color lithographic fine art poster. Due to his skills as an artist and printer, this form of printmaking became a valid artistic movement with social and aesthetic influence. Andre Mellerio, editor and publisher, recalled Cheret's large scale posters as 'the frescoes, if not of the poor, at least of the crowd.'
The Surprise (La Surprise), about 1718-1719, Jean-Antoinne Watteau, The J. Paul Getty Museum Provenance
Private Collection, New York
Literature
Lucy Broido 62
Catalogue Essay
Chéret was both a technician and an artist, an essential combination for the aesthetic development of the medium. Little is known of his early training, and even less of the influences upon his work. At the age of thirteen Chéret is said to have become apprenticed for three years to a commercial lithographer...During these years, frequent Sunday visits to the Louvre, where he was particularly impressed by the eighteenth century colorist Antoine Watteau (and Tiepolo), inspired him to study drawing under Lecoque de Boisbaubran, mentor of Auguste Rodin and Puvis de Chavannes.
2
La Danse (The Dance) (B. 62)
1891
Lithograph in colors, on wove paper, linen-backed, with margins.
I. 47 1/4 x 31 3/4 in. (120 x 80.6 cm)
S. 49 3/4 x 34 1/2 in. (126.4 x 87.6 cm)
Printed by Chaix, Paris, framed.
Estimate
$1,500 - 2,500
Sold for $3,276
212 940 1220
Editions Southampton
New York Auction 25 June 2022