20 The Hairdresser. (Programme of the Théâtre-Libre).... Lot 20

20 The Hairdresser. (Programme of the Théâtre-Libre). 1893. Lithograph. 240 x 325 [290 x 410]. Delteil 14; Wittrock 15; Aitken 22. Nice proof on vellum, of the 1st state (of 2), before the letter of the program, before erasing the crosshairs, numbered (N° 100) in red pencil by the publisher Éd. Kleinmann. Nice margins. 1 500 - 1 800 € Margins slightly reduced (Wittrock gives as dimensions: 325 x 500 mm). Slight oxidation of the leaf. Two tears at the top left and right. Dry stamp of Ed. Kleinmann incomplete in the lower left corner (due to reduction of margins), with small hole. In its 2nd state, this plate illustrates a program of the Théâtre-Libre, for the 1st show of the 1893-1894 season. The plays are Une faillite, a play in 4 acts by B. Björnson, translated from Norwegian, and Le Poète et le financier, a play in one act and in verse by M. Vaucaire. In this subject, inspired by the aesthetics of a famous print by Utamaro (Coiffeur Kamiyui, ca. 1798), Lautrec depicts the Countess Gisèle (the character in the second play) preoccupied with her toilette to please Baron Morin and Narcisse Bouchon. "The Théâtre-Libre was a theatrical movement born in a theatre in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, created by André Antoine in 1887 in order to renovate the spectacle by means of a realistic staging and by the interpretation of young French (Émile Zola) and foreign (Ibsen, Strindberg) naturalist writers. The programs and posters were made by artists such as Ibels, Vuillard, Signac, Willette, Toulouse-Lautrec, Abel Truchet, Henry Gerbault, Louis Anquetin, Alexandre Charpentier, of a realistic and often ferocious style, which testified to the atmosphere of the Théâtre-Libre, and to the spirit of freedom of the repertoire and the play. " (Wikipedia).