Charles Joseph Carter stands in a floor-length Chinese ceremonial robe packed with dragons, and a scarlet devil looms out of the teal shadows behind him. The Illinois Litho Company of Chicago produced the poster around 1905. Carter, billed as Carter the Mysterious, had settled in Chicago around 1900. The poster predates the world tours he began in 1907 and his later billing as Carter the Great.
The McCord Stewart Museum holds an impression (accession M2014.128.78).
On the poster
The robe is red, blue and gold, with dragons and cloud forms. At right, a formally dressed man in an evening coat steps out from behind a curtain. The poster lays out the Metamorphosis trick in a single tall sheet: two figures, one transformation. The ground is teal, and the headline lettering is bold slab-serif.
About this print
A digitally restored reproduction, printed on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art paper with pigment inks.





