Les Maîtres de l’Affiche (1895–1900)

The most celebrated poster series of the Belle Époque

From 1895 to 1900, the Parisian printer Imprimerie Chaix, under the direction of Jules Chéret, issued a subscription series that became one of the defining print collections of the fin de siècle: Les Maîtres de l’Affiche.

Subscribers received four lithographs each month, printed on fine wove paper and measuring approximately 15.5 × 11.25 inches. Over five years the series grew to 240 plates, supplemented by 16 special bonus prints, creating a complete set of 256 works. Each plate was a carefully prepared reduction of a contemporary poster, adapted for the smaller format with an attention to line and color that preserved the vitality of the original designs.

The roster of artists reads like a pantheon of modern poster art: Jules Chéret, often called the father of the modern poster; Alphonse Mucha, with his lyrical and ornamental style; Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, capturing the cabaret world of Montmartre; Eugène Grasset, Théophile Steinlen, Pierre Bonnard, and many others who defined the visual language of the Belle Époque.

What made Les Maîtres de l’Affiche remarkable was not only its scope but also its intent. These prints were created for collectors who wished to bring the vibrancy of the boulevards into their own homes. They were produced with the highest standards of chromolithography, each sheet carrying the distinctive blind stamp of authenticity.

Today, owning a plate from Les Maîtres de l’Affiche means holding a fragment of Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. It is a direct link to the golden age of the poster, an era when commercial art became fine art, and when the walls of the city blossomed into a gallery for all.