Vintage Poster Archives
Dola La Chauve-Souris 1904 | Theatre des Varietes
Dola La Chauve-Souris 1904 | Theatre des Varietes
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Seven figures in white tie and ball gowns fill the composition, champagne flutes raised toward the centre of the frame. A woman in a gold and black corseted gown anchors the group; to her left a masked man in a black domino leans in close. The background is saturated crimson. Dola drew the scene with a loose, assured lithographic line, letting the cream paper ground act as skin tone throughout.
Georges Dola (born Edmond Vernier, 1872–1950) produced this poster for the French premiere of Die Fledermaus at the Théâtre des Variétés on the Boulevard Montmartre. The operetta, with music by Johann Strauss II and a libretto by Paul Ferrier after Meilhac and Halévy, opened on 22 April 1904. The commission went to Imp. Ch. Wall et Cie, Paris, printed at Atelier Dola. The poster is held in the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales and was reproduced in Lucy Broido's 1976 study French Opera Posters 1868–1930 as plate 47.
Dola exhibited at the Société des Artistes Français, received an honourable mention there in 1909, and was a professor at the Cercle International des Arts. He produced more than 200 sheet-music covers and theatrical posters across a Paris career spanning four decades. This composition is among his most frequently cited works.
Reproduced from an archival source as a fine art print on 200gsm Enhanced Matte Fine Art Paper, using pigment-based inks with no optical brighteners. A natural fit for anyone drawn to Belle Époque graphic design, Paris theatre history, or the operetta repertoire.
