Lot 489
Estimate: £6,000 - £8,000
Auction: Lots 337 to 642 | 17th October at 10am
lithographic print in two sections, marked to base IMP. F. CHAMPENOIS. PARIS, framed
207cm x 75.5cm (frame size 211.5cm x 79.5cm)
Note: This poster advertises the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt in the play La Dame aux Camélias, first performed at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris, in 1896. The play was based on the novel published in 1848 by Alexander Dumas (1824-1895). The tragic role of Marguerite Gautier was one of Bernhardt's greatest successes, and she used this poster again when touring the play in the United States. Bernhardt loved Alphonse Mucha's exotic and romantic vision of her, and in 1895 she contracted him for six years to design posters, sets and costumes for her productions. This is the rare version before text, and before the addition of the final colour plate, violet.