Artist: Lucien Metivet French (1863-1930)
Title: Eugenie Buffet (Ambassadeurs)
Plate: PL. 22
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: $225.00
Full size sold for $ 5,750 US Poster Auctions International, N.Y. May 2000.
Eugenie Buffet (French, 1866-1934)
"The image of Buffet walking down a snowy street, her hands stuffed into her pockets and eyes burning intensely, is one of the classics of poster art. "This is the earliest of three posters Metivet did for this chanteuse; in all cases, he puts her on ordinary Paris streets in the clothes of a Paris working girl, the persona she projected in her performances" (Gold, p. 118). This prolific magazine and book illustrator did few posters" (Rennert, PAI-XXXVI, 418)
The Ambassadeurs cafe-concert on the Champs-Elysees was so named for its proximity to the Hotel Crillon, which used to house foreign ambassadors. In its belle epoque heyday, the cafe presented music hall stars from Yvette Guilbert to Aristide Bruant" (Rennert)
"This is the earliest of three posters Metivet did for this chanteuse (a female singer of popular songs, french); in all cases he puts her on ordinary Paris streets in the cloths of a Paris working girl, the persona she projected in her performances." (Gold, 170)
"Metivet's work for a number of illustrated periodicals (including Le Rire) won him a considerable reputation… This poster is among the finest examples of French poster art and deserves to be placed on a par with Toulouse-Lautrec's masterpieces. The subdued colouring, the imaginative use of lettering, and the expressive central figure all form a harmonious whole" (Paris 1900, p.120)