Le Grand Siècle de l’Affiche · The Masters
Ambassadeurs — Yvette Guilbert, Tous les soirs
Théophile Alexandre Steinlen · Les Ambassadeurs, Paris, 1894
What it is
A colour lithograph advertising poster by Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, made in 1894, announcing the singer Yvette Guilbert appearing nightly at Les Ambassadeurs in Paris.
Why it matters
Les Ambassadeurs was a café-concert on the Champs-Élysées, and Guilbert was the era's most caricatured diseuse — the sort of performer a poster had to sell to a crowd already forming an opinion. Steinlen, the Belle Époque graphic artist better known for cats and street throngs, drew her with the same economical contour he brought to those subjects. It is a working piece of the 1890s Paris advertising trade, not a portrait of homage.
What to notice
The format is extreme portrait — twice as tall as it is wide — the shape of a Morris column wrap rather than a flat wall billing.
A face reduced to a line, sized to a lamppost.
Provenance
- School
- Belle Époque — the Affiche (France)
- Designer
- Théophile Alexandre Steinlen
- Format
- Advertising poster
- Poster published
- Les Ambassadeurs, Paris, 1894
- Source
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica) · btv1b90127367; BnF ark:/12148/cb405649977
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 40x60" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
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