Wrestling Tournament (Plate 224), 1900

“Wrestling Tournament (Plate 224)” is an 1900 stone lithograph of Armand Rassenfosse's poster, printed at Imprimerie Chaix by Jules Chéret and included in the famed collection of Belle Époque posters 'Les Maîtres de l'Affiche.' The sheet size is 15.75 x 11.25”, the image size is 12.75 x 9.25" and the artwork is framed in an ornate, gold-tone frame. The artwork ships framed and accompanied by a copy of the publisher’s documentation.

‘Les Maîtres de l’Affiche’ (The Masters of the Poster) ranks as one of the most prestigious and influential art publications in history. The 256 color plates that make up the suite represent a wide-ranging selection of outstanding original posters from the turn of the twentieth century, when this popular art form first reached its peak.

Early printed posters were very text-heavy, with relatively few illustrations. After all, they were created to advertise products, and adding an illustration to an advertisement in the mid-1800's was not commonplace. However, during the second half of the nineteenth century, when all types of commercial products were being aesthetically upgraded, serious artists began to see the new possibilities in the poster medium. By linking their imagery to popular commerce, the belief was that each would be enhanced by the value of the other. This was especially true for Jules Chéret ( 1836-1932) whose unique combination of artistic, technical and entrepreneurial talents paved the way for a true poster industry. Chéret opened his own print shop in Paris in 1866 – Imprimerie Chaix - and his work then began to inspire numerous emulators in Europe and America .

By the 1890's the streets of every great city were enlivened by large, colorful posters. The poster had not only caught the fancy of the public, but its best examples were already being regarded as fine prints to be exhibited, reviewed in journals, collected, and reproduced in a more manageable form. In the last five years of the century, the Imprimerie Chaix was to play a great part in codifying, hallowing and perpetuating the ebullient spirit of the ‘Belle Époque.’ It was in those years that Chéret's print shop published smaller chromolithographic versions (in authentic colors) of over 200 highly regarded posters of the times. These posters were created by more than 90 great artists, each bringing this fabulous period to life for us today.

"To wrest the street from the gray and bleak monotony of buildings; to cast upon them the fireworks of color; to convert the walls into 'decorable' surfaces and let this open air museum reveal the character of a people and at the same time become the subconscious education of the public taste, such is Cheret's task." -- Roger Marx, Editor ‘Les Maîtres de l’Affiche’