Artist: Jules Cheret French (1836-1932)
Title: Concert des Ambassadeurs
Plate: PL. 165
Original lithograph from "Les Maitres de L'Affiche" series.
Printed by Imprimerie Chaix, Paris, 1899.
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
"As amply demonstrated in previous Chéret creations, there certainly wasn’t a lack of variety when it came to the type of entertainment one was likely to encounter at the Ambassadeurs. But just in case you weren’t convinced, here’s another lighter-than-air salvo from Chéret’s lithographic arsenal: an effervescent swirl of ballerinas, a cymbal-clanging gitane, and a contortionist clown. And of course, as the salver at center serves to remind us, a bit of the bubbly always makes an evening at the Ambassadeurs seem even more magical.
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)
Cheret's glorious rendering of the joyous activities that one might expect at the Ambassadeurs brings to life brilliantly the desirable adage of "wine, women and song!"
"In the 1880's poster art was just emerging from the drabness of letterpress announcements showing little but black type. Cheret's airy images were so startlingly bright and fresh on the walls of Paris that they attracted admirers and his sprightly women the appellation 'Cherettes.' It is not too far fetched to say that they were instrumental in ushering in the golden age of posters" (Gold p.7)