Lot 27: Poster: GEORGES LEROUX (1877-1957) EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE / P

GEORGES LEROUX (1877-1957) EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE / PALAIS DE L'OPTIQUE. 1900.
51x36 3/4 inches. Charle Verneau, Paris.
Condition B+: restoration and minor restored losses along vertical and horizontal folds; minor restoration in margins and corners.
Georges Leroux studied with Bonnat and had a successful career as an academic painter, ultimately winning the coveted Prix de Rome in 1906. To the best of our knowledge, this is the only poster he designed. The 1900 Exposition Universelle was a huge event that included hundreds of attractions spread out in many different pavilions. Easily one hundred posters exist advertising these events. Leroux's poster advertises the large telescope that was housed in the Palace of Optics, which he depicts in the background. The main image is an allegorical representation of the telescope holding a large white moon, which would have been the major celestial body most frequently viewed through the device. Surviving cardboard souvenirs from that pavilion bear the inscription la lune a un metre, "the moon at one meter," which sheds some light on how this amazing marvel was sold to an eager public. The poster is well balanced and elegant. Gold 187.