Vintage Poster Archives
Cappiello Folies-Bergere 1902 | Louise Balthy Cabaret
Cappiello Folies-Bergere 1902 | Louise Balthy Cabaret
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Louise Balthy stands in a feathered bustle gown against a ground of loose amber-ochre brushstrokes, both arms raised behind an eccentric upswept coiffure. Cappiello's line is fast and caricaturist-precise: the silhouette reads from twenty feet, which is exactly what a Grands Boulevards hoarding required in 1902. Burnt-sienna display lettering arcs across the top; 'LOUISE BALTHY' closes the composition in a compressed black slab-serif at the foot.
Designed by Leonetto Cappiello and lithographed by Imp. P. Vercasson & Cie, 43 rue de Lancry, Paris, in 1902. The commission came at the beginning of Cappiello's exclusive arrangement with Vercasson, the period, 1901 to 1914, during which he produced several hundred posters that moved French advertising away from the elaborate painterly style of the Belle Epoque toward the bold, figure-led compositions that define his legacy. The poster is catalogued in the official Cappiello Catalogue Raisonne (ref. 1902011Z0) and held in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Louise Balthy (1869-1926) was a French cafe-concert performer who had made her name at Les Menus Plaisirs before this Folies-Bergere engagement. Cappiello had observed and sketched her from at least 1899, and the poster carries the conviction of an artist who knew his subject.
Reproduced as an archival print on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper using pigment-based inks. The poster is held by the Library of Congress with no known restrictions on reproduction in the US, placing it in the public domain. A considered choice for admirers of early 20th-century French theatre design, the Cappiello-Vercasson years, or the visual culture of the Folies-Bergere.
