JULES CHERET(1836-1932)

$75,000

 
<div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div> <div>Jules Chéret’s <em>Portrait</em> is a lively pastel chalk on canvas that reveals the painterly sensibility behind the artist best known as the master of Belle Époque poster art. In this composition, two female figures emerge from a whirlwind of color and light, their forms dissolving into strokes of turquoise, rose, and gold. The surface vibrates with movement, recalling the theatrical energy and fleeting glamour that defined fin-de-siècle Paris. Softly modeled yet animated by sweeping gestures, the figures seem caught mid-performance—at once intimate and exuberant. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Though widely celebrated for his advertising posters, Chéret was deeply influenced by the Rococo masters, particularly Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Antoine Watteau. Their spirit of elegance, sensuality, and decorative flourish permeates this work, where lightness of touch and chromatic brilliance take precedence over strict realism. These same qualities made his vivid lithographic posters for the Eldorado, the Olympia, the Folies Bergère, the Théâtre de l’Opéra, the Alcazar d’Été, and the Moulin Rouge iconic emblems of Parisian modern life. </div><br><br><div> </div><br><br><div>Chéret’s success in poster design helped launch a new generation of artists, including Charles Gesmar and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, solidifying the poster as a legitimate artistic medium. While he achieved recognition as a painter, it was his advertising imagery—initially undertaken to earn a living but later pursued with conviction—that secured his legacy. Honored with a posthumous exhibition at the Salon d’Automne in 1933, Chéret’s works are now held in major institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, affirming his enduring place in the history of modern art. </div>
PortraitFin des années 180030 1/2 x 18 1/2 po(77,47 x 46,99 cm) Pastel sur toile
Provenance

immobilière suisse Germann Auktionshaus AG, Zurich, 23 juin 2025, lot 00027
Collection privée, acquise lors de la vente susmentionnée
Exposition
Genève, Suisse, Petit Palais de Genève, Trésors du Petit Palais de Genève, 18 mai - 23 août 1983, puis Osaka Umeda, Tokyo, Fukushima, Sapporo, Hakata
Rotterdam, Pays-Bas, Kunsthal Rotterdam, Schilders van Parijs Van Renoir tot Picasso - Verzameling Oscar Ghez, 2 octobre 2004 - 3 avril 2005
Le Portrait de Jules Chéret est un pastel vif sur toile qui révèle la sensibilité picturale de l'artiste, surtout connu comme le maître de l'affiche Belle Époque. Dans cette composition, deux figures féminines émergent d'un tourbillon de couleurs et de lumière, leurs formes se dissolvant dans des touches de turquoise, de rose et d'or. La surface vibre de mouvement, rappelant l'énergie théâtrale et le glamour éphémère qui caractérisaient le Paris fin de siècle. Modélisées avec douceur mais animées par des gestes amples, les figures semblent figées en plein mouvement, à la fois intimes et exubérantes.





Bien que largement célébré pour ses affiches publicitaires, Chéret a été profondément influencé par les maîtres rococo, en particulier Jean-Honoré Fragonard et Antoine Watteau. Leur esprit d'élégance, de sensualité et de fioritures décoratives imprègne cette œuvre, où la légèreté du trait et la brillance chromatique priment sur le réalisme strict. Ces mêmes qualités ont fait de ses affiches lithographiques vivantes pour l'Eldorado, l'Olympia, les Folies Bergère, le Théâtre de l'Opéra, l'Alcazar d'Été et le Moulin Rouge des emblèmes iconiques de la vie moderne parisienne.


 


Le succès de Chéret dans la conception d'affiches a contribué à lancer une nouvelle génération d'artistes, dont Charles Gesmar et Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, consolidant ainsi l'affiche comme un moyen d'expression artistique à part entière. S'il a été reconnu comme peintre, ce sont ses images publicitaires, initialement réalisées pour gagner sa vie, puis poursuivies avec conviction, qui ont assuré son héritage. Honoré par une exposition posthume au Salon d'Automne en 1933, les œuvres de Chéret sont aujourd'hui conservées dans de grandes institutions telles que le Museum of Modern Art, le musée d'Orsay, le musée de l'Ermitage et l'Art Institute of Chicago, confirmant ainsi sa place durable dans l'histoire de l'art moderne.
demander