1890s Original French Art Nouveau Poster, Saxoleine Petrole de Sureté - Cheret

Date: c. 1890
Size:  32.5 x 47 inches
Notes: Poster, Large, Linenbacked
Artist: Cheret, Jules

About The Poster: One of many Saxoleine advertisements by Jules Chéret, this poster features a well-dressed woman gracefully turning on a lamp. The warm, homey atmosphere and the promise that the lamp oil is odorless and colourless meant that even fancy femmes de Paris could take advantage of the ease and convenience of the oil lamp.

About the Artist: Jules Chéret is considered the father of the modern poster. Born in Paris, he studied lithography, which was, at that time, a new and economical method of reproducing colored designs. His research into this revolutionary process took him to London where he remained until 1866. He then returned to Paris and set up his own shop where he began printing theatrical posters in a remarkably innovative way. Chéret used these lithographic techniques to create lively, mobile images. His sense of design, his free-hand style, and his ability to smoothly incorporate written messages into his pictures were skills that combined to produce posters that attracted immediate attention and interest. Like Toulouse-Lautrec after him, Chéret was influenced by the Post-Impressionists and by Japanese prints. He used more detail, and depicted inviting, unframed scenes of figures caught in mid-action. Chéret's posters contained an unusually large amount of lettering, which brought the advertising component of his designs into prominence. His principles of good poster design influenced Toulouse-Lautrec , and paved the way for the many other poster artists of the day. Although rather bold in style at the turn of the century, Chéret later returned to a milder, more impressionistic treatment of his subjects. Jules Cheret was born in Paris on May 31, 1836 in to a family of artisans. Since the family had little money, Jules Cheret’s formal education ended when at the age of 13, his family could no longer afford to keep him in school. His father, a typographer, placed Cheret in a three year apprenticeship with a lithographer. French lithographer, poster designer and painter, Cheret’s formal training in art was limited to a course at the Ecole Nationale de Dessin, Paris, as a pupil of Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran. His continued perseverance led him to his first commission to create a poster. He revolutionized the field of advertising by his contributions in design and printing techniques. He designed over 1000 posters.