L'Infamie (La Petite République Française Advertisement, 1890). French Double Panel (55" X 83") "Le Roma...

Description

L'Infamie (La Petite République Française Advertisement, 1890). French Double Panel (55" X 83") "Le Roman Inédit L'Infamie par Oscar Méténier." Jules Chéret Artwork.
In 1889, writer and police officer Oscar Metenier resigned from the Paris France police force as his popular novels and plays were taking up all of his time. It paid better. His stories using real-life crime cases became incredibly popular and fascinated the masses. They were published in many cheap publications (including Le Petite Republique Francaise); and they focused on the moral depravity of the Bourgeois and how their deeds resulted in the most gruesome affairs. But by 1889, Metenier's tales became so grotesque, the authorities could no longer tolerate them and they began to censor them. It was this sort of writing that captured Andre Antoine's attention and caused him to hire Metenier to write plays for his Theatre Libre. The success that followed was overwhelming and Metenier would go off on his own in 1897 and create the legendary first theatre of true horror, The Grand Guignol. This poster, L'Infamie advertised Metenier's latest novel of shocking horror and murder for sale in bookstores and newsstands. This was the same sort of horror story that would make the Grand Guignol famous and inspire the earliest forms of horror in the cinema. Artwork by Jules Chéret (1836-1932), a French painter and lithographer of the Belle Époque known as the "father of the modern poster." Restoration has addressed chips and tears in the borders, fold wear with small chips, a tax stamp in the top left, a tear in the top right green background and title, and tears in the left border/background and bottom border/background. Fine/Very Fine on Linen.

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Estimate: $1,500 - $3,000.