Artist: Leonetto Cappiello Italian (1875-1942)
Title: La Belle Otero
Plate: LR C5
from "Le Rire"
Original page from the satirical weekly magazine, Printed in Paris 10/09/1898, no.200.
Presented in 16 x 20 in. acid free, archival museum mat, with framing labels. Ready to frame. Shipped boxed flat via Fedex.
Certificate of Authenticity.
Sheet Size: 9 in x 12 in 23 cm x 31 cm
Price: Temporarily out of stock
I can usually source this poster. If you are interested please contact me. Greg"Caroline Otero, known as La Belle Otero, lived to be almost 100 years old and she took pride in the belief, or perhaps the fact, that men's faces 'light with desire' as they pass by. Born in Cadiz in 1869 (she died in1965), she was both a dancer and a singer. She made her debut in 1889 and performed in cafes, singing and dancing, throughout Europe and America. She even sang the title role in Carmen (and one may be certain she danced it also!) in 1912 at the Opera-Comique" (Dance Posters 24)
"In 1898 when he (Leonetto Cappiello) decided to pay a visit to his older brother who happened to be working for the Paris Stock exchange. Leonetto found Paris exciting, and wanted to stay longer, which meant he had to find a way to support himself. He approached two famous compatriots who happened to be in town, actor Novelli and composer Puccini, asked them to let him sketch their caricatures. They obliged, and Cappiello submitted the drawings to the humour magazine "Le Rire" they were promptly accepted, and were so well received by the public that he became, virtually overnight, the favoured artist of the Paris Theatre" (Rennert PAI-IX)
One of the magazines asked him to prepare his first poster (Le Frou Frou) for which he used the style of his "Le Rire" work, simple drawing and flat colour. From that point on he was inundated with commissions for posters. These early works he did for "Le Rire" were instrumental in the start of his career, and thus their importance to the serious collector cannot be overestimated.