Salon des 100, 14 exposition
Fernand Fau
French, 1858–1919
1895
A lithographic poster by Fernand Fau advertising the 1895 Salon des 100, designed to entice fashionable Parisians to an art exhibition at 31 rue Bonaparte.
You’re struck by a poised, sinuous woman in a patterned navy gown, white cape and flamboyant yellow hat peering with a lorgnette at framed pictures, all rendered in flat, decorative colors, bold black outlines and a diagonally receding gallery floor that flattens space into a theatrical graphic stage.
It exemplifies the 1890s poster revolution that turned commercial lithography into modern graphic art—melding fashion, urban leisure and Japonisme-influenced flatness to promote cultural events to a new mass audience.
Medium
Lithograph
Dimensions
23 1/2 x 15 3/4" (59.7 x 40 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Ludwig Charell
Accession
182.1956
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
