French Vintage Ad Supplement for ‘Eldorado | Music Hall’ by Jules Cheret, 1894

This is a rare French Belle Epoque period advertising poster for Eldorado Music Hall created by Jules Cheret in 1894. This poster was created as a supplement for the Courrier Francais on December 23, 1894. Like many of Cheret’s works, the focal point of this image is a beautiful, cheerful, and carefree woman, an archetype that came to be referred to as a “Cherette.” This Cherette dances in the center foreground of the poster, beautifully dressed, holding a tambourine. She is framed by a bright red circle which allows the yellow of her dress and hair to pop out from the center of the poster. Above her, curving around the red it says, “Eldorado,” and below her are sketches of playful characters playing an instrument and making a silly face. This poster has all of the hallmarks of a Chéret masterpiece: bright lively colors, dynamic lines, and a dominant sense of gaiety and vitality.

Cheret is a celebrated painter and lithographer who is considered to be the father of the modern poster. Chéret studied both the techniques of various artists, past and present, by visiting the masters seen in Parisian museums and learning the technology of lithography at school. This combination allowed him to become a master artist and brilliant technician who’s work was seen all over the streets of Paris. Cheret’s poster’s became hugely popular and illuminated the streets of Paris. During La Belle Epoque, Cheret caused a color revolution, allowing a sense of fun, fantasy, laughter, and gaiety to dazzle the streets of Paris in a way that had not existed before. In 1890 he was awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French Government for his outstanding contributions to the graphic arts.

Today works by Jules Cheret are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg Russia, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, MOMA, Musee d’Orsay in Paris, and The National Gallery of Art, to name a few.

This poster was a supplement au numero du courrier francais du 23 Decembre 1894 (encres lorilleux) and printed by Imp. Chaix 20 Rue Bergere. Paris (Ateliers Cheret).