Bot-original Drawing-signed-jules Cheret-a Cherette And Two Loves-19th

JULES CHERET (Paris, 1836 – Nice, 1932) A CHERETTE AND TWO LOVES Charcoal in oval format 124 x 96.5 cm Beautiful state of conservation In its original natural oak frame End of the 19th century “If we look through the work of this ingenious fanciful, we find in imposed subjects (...) a very personal, decorative and humorous expression of life, a Parisian scent brought to its supreme acuity and resolving into these laughing gases whose effluences delight and intoxicate the people who use them. aspire. To be honest, Mr. Chéret's work is an exquisite art dinner. » Joris-Karl Huysmans Seurat collected his posters, Degas nicknamed him “the Watteau of the streets” and Forain compared him to Tiepolo. Undisputed master of the poster and great innovator, Jules Chéret preceded Art Nouveau. The son of a typographer, he received training as a lithographer and printer, while attending evening classes with Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the Petite Ecole. As early as 1858, he stood out with a poster for Offenbach's operetta: Orphée aux Enfers. Having left for London for six years to study new lithography processes, he returned to Paris and created his own printing company in 1868, cultivating a specialty for show and entertainment posters. Soon his style developed, which marked the advertising industry of the end of the century: women - modern, joyful and eroticized just enough -, loves, Pierrot, Columbine, plus a whole host of cheerful sidekicks, drawn into an aerial waltz, dancing in weightlessness, carried away laughing in a whirlwind rising to the sky. These euphoric images were served by flat areas of frank and clear colors, whose radiant tones were a signature of Chéret. Gold medalist at the 1889 exhibition, the artist also devoted himself to decoration from the 1890s, either for private residences such as that of his patron, Baron Vitta in Evian; or for public buildings like the Paris city hall. Exceptional in its dimensions, our drawing shows all the richness of expression of which Chéret was capable with the black of a charcoal alone, knowing how to accentuate his line or dissolve it with the stump, with striking effects of shadow and modeling. Our “cherette” – a recurring figure said to have been inspired by the painter by the Danish dancer and actress Charlotte Wiehe – dances in the void with two loves, as if a modern woman had taken the place of the Venuses who populated the baroque skies. She is holding a fan, Chéret's favorite accessory, which recalls Japanese prints. A tremendous dynamism animates the composition, showing how much the poster artist had unlocked the secret of the movement.