Cinematographie Lumière (Lumière, 1895). Very Fine+ on Linen. Horizontal French Grande (46." X 61.25"). Marcellin Auzolle Ar...

Description

Cinematographie Lumière (Lumière, 1895). Very Fine+ on Linen. Horizontal French Grande (46." X 61.25"). Marcellin Auzolle Artwork.
Heritage is proud to present the first poster created to advertise a commercial motion picture exhibition. Designed by Marcellin Auzolle, the large-format poster was created for Auguste and Jean-Louis Lumière's premiere screening at the Salon Indien in the basement of the Grand Café in Paris on December 28, 1895. To promote this demonstration of their pioneering cinématographe device, the Lumière's organization pasted posters around the city and issued invitations to prominent members of the press. However, the Fourth Estate, like much of the population of the French capital, ignored the appeal. Of the hundred chairs set up for the exhibition, only thirty were occupied. The watershed event featured, in all, around ten minutes of footage comprising ten different short films. One such short was The Waterer Watered (L'arroseur Arrosé), considered the first comedy presented on film, which is featured on this poster. The plot is simple and short (it runs 49 seconds): an impudent child plays a prank on a gardener innocently watering his plants. This fabulous poster has only a minute spots of touch-up at one fold junction and a couple minor touch-ups along a fold. Splits and some tears were mended perfectly so that they are unseen without very close inspection, and the linen has been trimmed to the poster's edges. A rare opportunity to acquire this historic poster and only the second time that it has been offered at Heritage.


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