Artist: Ferdinand Bac French (1859-1952)
Title: Yvette Guilbert (Scala)
Plate: PL. 19
Original lithograph from "Les Maitres de L'Affiche" series.
Printed by Imprimerie Chaix, Paris, 1896.
Presented in 16 x 20 in. acid free, archival museum mat, with framing labels. Ready to frame. Shipped boxed flat.
Certificate of Authenticity.
Maitre Sheet Size: Approx 11 3/8 in x 15 3/4 in 29 cm x 40 cm
Price: $175.00
Yvette Gilbert debuts at the Scala "tout les soirs" in magnificent form: regal profile, flowing gown, laurel branches o'erhanging... But what's this? She holds in her hands a decrepit marionette, in top hat and tails and a reaper's sickle, labeled "Fin o' Sìec," or "End of Century." In the background, the silhouette of Notre-Dame rests on the right horizon; on the left, the scaffolding of the in-construction Sacré-Coeur rises at the top of Montmartre hill. This is one of three posters for Yvettte Guilbert by her lifelong friend, Bac; she opened at the Scala on September 29, 1893, having signed a record-setting, two-year contract with the large theater on the Boulevard de Strasbourg (Rennert)
Yvette Guilbert (1869-1944)
"The German born illustrator Bac did few posters, but his series of three, in almost identical format, for Yvette Guilbert are his best. Maindron called them 'Strong and original designs' (Maindron p.36) Bac was a life-long, intimate friend of Yvettte. She wrote an introduction to his album 'Femmes de Theatres' He was one of the few invited guests to her private wedding to Max Schiller in 1897. Yvette is seen here in a full length portrait in profile against a night scene" (Rennert, PAI-VIII, 232)