A Gaiety Girl - 1890

VINTAGE FRENCH POSTER - GICLÉE PRINT

This vintage French poster is an example of "Affiche Artistique", advertising Day's Theatre's production of "A Gaiety Girl".  The artist was Dudley Hardy and the poster was published around 1890.

Dimensions:  16" x 24"

Artists in the late 1800s found opportunities to present their work to the masses through advertising art that began to appear as billboards and posters, plastering the streets of Paris.  “Affiche Artistique” was the term that the French used to describe a poster that contained artistic expression.  The art was so impressive to the public, people began to collect the posters as soon as they went up, which is why they are so scarce today.  Artists such as Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha, Jules Chéret, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Pierre Bonnard and Eugène Grasset contributed to the creative body of work that became what some called  “a free museum for the masses”.  The craze for collecting these examples of modern art was even given the name, "affichomanie", meaning “artistic poster mania”.  Collectors today pay hundreds, if not thousands for original prints of these rare posters. 

We offer these exceptional vintage poster reproductions in the highest possible print quality.  Superior to most reproductions currently available on the market, our gallery quality prints are suitable for display in an art gallery or museum.  We begin with an ultra high resolution scan of the original artifact which we leave untouched, leaving intact the slightly distressed vintage character desirable in a collectible piece of this era.  Our state of the art, giclée reproduction process uses the latest technology: microscopic droplets of ink that render such a high resolution, that every minute detail of the original is intact.  Every pen line and brush stroke is visible.  Even very faint pencil lines are also visible due to the incredibly high quality of the reproduction process.  Our 8 color, archival quality inks and giclée printing process provide the most accurate color reproduction & are proven to last over a hundred years. Posters are available printed on museum quality archival paper or on repositionable media that allow you to plaster your walls with the “Affiche Artistique”, just as they were originally intended to be displayed. 

About the artist:

Dudley Hardy
English, (1867 – 1922) 

Dudley Hardy was born in the Sheffield borough of Yorkshire.  In his early years he learned painting and drawing techniques from his father, artist Thomas Bush Hardy.  At fifteen, he enrolled at the Düsseldorf Academy in Germany, and later studied art in Paris and Belgium before settling down as a painter and illustrator in London.  There, Hardy was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy.  His painting titled “Sans Asile” ensured his name in the art world, when it was shown at the Paris Salon and at the Royal Society of British Artists Gallery in the 1890s.  Hardy was a periodical illustrator depicting events of the Sudanese War, even though he never visited the region.  Hardy produced a number of posters and postcards in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  His most popular poster of this era was an advertisement for Today magazine titled “Yellow Girl”.  Hardy was a founding member of the London Sketch Club and later joined the prestigious Eccentric Club.