Picture Posters/Chapter 11
| CHAPTER XI. |
THE PRICE OF THE PICTORIAL POSTER; AND CONCLUDING NOTE.
It is obviously impossible to state accurately the price of the artistic poster, insomuch as fluctuations take place almost daily, and, moreover, the numerous dealers vary in their quotations in an extraordinary degree. Under these circumstances, the present chapter is written as a matter of current record, rather than with the idea that it will be of any permanent value for purposes of reference. It may be stated at the outset, that in dealing with the value of the poster, rarity has in the first place to be taken into consideration; and thus it happens that, while delightfully artistic designs are comparatively inexpensive, posters which are quite unattractive from the point of view of art are often very costly. The prices which follow are for the most part taken from the catalogues of M. Edmond Sagot of Paris, and Mr. Bella of London, the latter of whom, by the organization of exhibitions and in other ways, has rendered material assistance to English collectors. In fact;, to some extent, he has called the English collector into existence.
As an example of the price of the poster of which the interest is archaeological rather than artistic, one may instance a placard, dated the 20th of February, 1649, which deals with the opening and closing of the gates of Paris. Its only claim to be considered pictorial consists in the fact; that it is ornamented with a woodcut representing the arms of the city. Many similar productions were executed in relation to London and to other English towns. The price asked for it three or four years ago was thirty francs. Interesting from another point of view are the illustrated posters which have heralded new books, or new editions of books, by great writers. Three of these, relating to the works of Balzac, and including one with woodcuts by Meissonier and Tony Johannot, are valued at twelve francs.
It is time, however, to pass from pictorial posters, which are interesting on account of age or literary association, to those which derive their value from their qualities as works of art. In this class some of the highest prices are obtained by the French artists who, for the most part, were the contemporaries, or immediate successors, of Gavarni. The best posters of this master are extremely difficult to procure, and examples in a fine state realize large sums. For the "Œuvres Choisis" bill, together with that designed to advertise an illustrated edition of Balzac's "Philosophie de la Vie Conjugale," something over a hundred francs is asked, while less important works can be obtained for five and-twenty or thirty francs. It goes without saying that the smallest tear or other injury, however neatly and skilfully repaired, heavily discounts the value of works by Gavarni and the men of his time; but even slightly damaged examples are eagerly sought for, as it is almost impossible to obtain perfect ones. Of the productions of Edouard de Beaumont, two of the rarest are the "Nains Célèbres," already mentioned, and the "Diable Amoureux." For an exceptionally fine proof of the former, as much as a hundred francs has been asked, while the latter, which is very rare, commands about sixty francs. Sums scarcely less formidable are given for the better posters of Grandville, and fifty francs for a good Tony Johannot is not by any means an exceptional price, although unimportant specimens of his work may be picked up in Paris for a few sous. The excursions of Gustave Doré into the art of the poster were very few. His most important work was perhaps the "Légende du Juif Errant," a fine proof of which realizes sixty francs or more. Posters by Vivant Beaucé, Castelli, Cham, Victor Coindre, Charles Devrits, H. Emy, A. Farcy, and others of the same period, for the most part command sums comparatively small; the best productions of Bertall, Calame, Monnier, and C. Nanteuil, on the other hand, are only a little less expensive than those of Gavarni and the more distinguished designers of his time.
Of posters by designers still living, those of Chéret have been most assiduously collected. It is probable that a complete set of his works does not exist; even one which is fairly representative, and includes some of his earlier and rarer affiches, is extremely valuable. In the Sagot catalogue of 1891, over five hundred and fifty posters by Chéret are described, and of these no less than eighty are priced at twenty francs or more. Since the publication of the catalogue, their value has steadily increased, and it is uncertain if many of them can now be procured at all. The collector of modest means need not, however, regret that the older and rarer examples of Chéret are beyond his reach, for the artist's more recent posters are the best that he has accomplished. For a comparatively small outlay, one may secure the flower of Chéret's work. Amongst the most valuable of his posters are two, of very large size, designed to advertise some Arabs who appeared with the Paris Hippodrome when it visited London in 1887. The price asked for them is over two pounds. They seem to have escaped the attention of French collectors from the fad; that they were posted exclusively in London. The set of four
DESIGN BY DESIGN BY CHÉRET.
Loie Fuller bills, in all of which the design is the same but the colouring different, is worth between thirty and forty shillings. These designs are among the most daring and characteristic specimens of Chéret's amazing colour, and as they only measure forty-nine by thirty-three inches, they are of manageable size, and should find their way into the portfolio of every collector. The set of unlettered decorative panels which were described in an earlier part of the book, is at present sold by all dealers for five pounds. It goes without saying that proofs before letters, or prints on special paper, of the posters of Chéret, or of nearly any other artist, are much more valuable than ordinary copies.
Most of the posters of other living French artists may still be procured for a few shillings, but it is extremely improbable that such a state of things will long continue to be the case. Already examples by men of the modern school, such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Anquetin, Bonnard, Steinlen, and Ibels, are in great demand, and collectors should use the present opportunity to procure a series of these curiously interesting designs before the prices rise. Even now, Lautrec's first attempt, "Le Pendu," has become rarissime, and is valued at something over a sovereign. What has happened in this case will doubtless happen in the case of "La Reine de Joie," "Jane Avril," and Lautrec's other posters. The designs of Grasset are rapidly taking their place by the side of those of Chéret in the estimation of collectors, with the result that several of them command large prices. Thus the "Librairie Romantique," which was offered in 1891 for three francs, was priced by the same dealer in November, 1894, at twenty. What is going on in the case of Chéret, Grasset, and Lautrec, is going on, though it may be somewhat less rapidly, in the case of those other artists who have assisted to make the French affiche the charming and artistic thing it is.
The posters of those artists who were the pioneers of the artistic poster movement in England are extremely rare. They worked in the days before the English collector existed, and any copies of their designs not actually posted, probably fell into the hands of the waste-paper dealer. I have been unable to trace any copies of the advertisement done by Fred Walker for "The Woman in White," but the original design has been recently exhibited in London, and the price put upon it by its owners is seventy guineas. Copies of Mr. Walter Crane's "Hippodrome" bill are extremely rare, as are those designed by Professor Herkomer for the "Magazine of Art," "Black and White," and the exhibition of his own works. Turning to the younger men, it is interesting to note that Mr. Dudley Hardy's "Yellow Girl" sells in Paris for twenty francs, the large "Gaiety Girl" for half as much, and the smaller bills for the same play for five francs. The first poster which this artist did for "St. Paul's" is very difficult to meet with; it will doubtless be among the most valuable of Mr. Hardy's designs. Mr. Beardsley's "Avenue" poster is quoted neither by Mr. Bella nor M. Sagot, and it may therefore be concluded that it is almost impossible to obtain it. The other posters of this designer are steadily increasing in value, and are eagerly sought for by collectors on both sides of the Channel. Mr. Greiffenhagen’s "Pall Mall" poster, which has met with much success abroad, is worth about half a sovereign. The dainty little bill which Mr. Wilson Steer did for the exhibition of his paintings at the Goupil Gallery fetches about the same amount, and is rapidly becoming scarce. It is pleasant to think that the early efforts of English artists are welcomed by French collectors as enthusiastically as the masterpieces of French artists by collectors in England.
The poster is obviously difficult to collect, because of its size. Not all of us are proprietors of such an immensity as the Chicago Exhibition. Most of us, on the other hand, could paper a room with posters of Lautrec alone. Everybody, however, can put the smaller bills into a portfolio, while the larger ones may be mounted as ordinary school maps. The collecting of pictorial posters needs nothing more than a little heroism. In the foregoing chapters, I have attempted to outline the history of art as applied to the poster, and to give an account of the pictorial placard in the present state of its development. The number of names, eminent in the history of various modern arts and crafts, who have applied themselves to the production of the pictorial poster seems to me to justify the publication of this book. The fact that men so highly endowed as Chéret and Lautrec deliberately choose to appeal to the public chiefly by means of the affiche, well knowing that their gallery is the common hoarding, places the illustrated poster outside the bounds of ridicule. A modern art critic of high repute and of enormous energy has assured us that, in these days, to neglect the poster is mere folly on the part of those who care for the application of taste and skill to the objects of everyday life. We are apt to talk of artistic periods; periods when the most ordinary objects had an aesthetic character of their own. It seems to me to be full of promise for the future that the hoarding should be among the first necessities of modern civilization to be rendered charming by the skill and imagination of the artist. Art is generally supposed to be inimical to commerce, and commerce inimical to art, yet here we have the two combining to the advantage of both, and succeeding in making the beautiful an incident of the necessary.
CHISWICK PRESS:—CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.