Jules Chéret (1836 -1932) was a French plastic artist, famous for his lithographic work. He is known as the father of the modern poster. During the belle epoque, his work revolutionized the conception of this art, which made him one of the masters of the moment.
From a very young age, Chéret was interested in lithography. It was prepared in England and was inspired by the English conception of posters, an aspect that mixed with the style and fashion that dominated France at that time.
The best events in Paris passed both through the workshop and through the hands of Chéret, who designed for them compositions with bright colors in which a central figure and a deep connection with Parisian life stood out..
Theater plays, cabaret performances and concerts were some of the themes featured on Chéret's posters. Also perfumes and other products decorated their packaging with the art of this creator.
In 1890 Jules Chéret received the Legion of Honor from the French Government, as a prize for his outstanding work in the graphic arts. The work of this plastic artist is currently in high demand by collectors around the world..
Article index
Jean Jules Chéret was born on May 31, 1836 in Paris, France. He was the eldest of the three children of the typographer Nicolás Chéret and his wife Justine Ormeau. Jules' family did not have much money, but they had a natural talent for art.
His brothers were Joseph Gustave Chéret, born in 1838, who dedicated himself to sculpture and the plastic arts, and Joseph Etienne Chéret, who was born in 1847, the youngest of the three, who dedicated himself to a military career and was an infantry captain..
His father secured him a position as an apprentice lithographer for three years from 1849, when he was 13 years old. At the end of that time, Chéret studied briefly at the École Nationale de Dessin (National School of Design).
During this period the artist began to work in some Parisian lithography firms, among them was Lemercier. Chéret's greatest work of those made at this time, of which there is record, was Orphée aux Enfers (1858), promoting an operetta by Jacques Offenbach.
Chéret received good critics in the artistic milieu. However, during this time he did not achieve fame and recognition..
From 1859 Jules Chéret settled in London, England. There he refined his talents and knowledge in lithography for seven years. At that time he achieved privileged positions in his field, he was one of the illustrators of Cramer and Company.
This is how Jules Chéret came into contact with posters. It is said that his work differed from the English of the time, because he sought his inspiration in the fine arts, and not exclusively in lithography.
There he also met Eugène Rimmel, who owned a perfume factory and was part of the Royal Society of Arts. Rimmel enlisted Chéret's services to design the packaging for his perfumes and provided him with sufficient funds to create his own firm in Paris and London..
When Chéret returned to settle in Paris, he received several commissions to which he applied the fundamentals learned in his seven-year stay in London. Then the popularity and demand of Chéret's work had an immediate increase.
From the same year in 1866, Jules Chéret had managed to gain a privileged position in lithography and poster creation in France. Theaters, operas, cabaret, everyone wanted to have a poster made by him.
Some claim that her career really took off after the 1867 poster advertising Sarah Bernhardt's performance in a play. At that time he still retained the romantic spirit of his work in England.
Sooner rather than later, Chéret found himself making advertisements and posters for all kinds of events and products. In his pieces he showed women as happy and colorful characters. Thus Chéret moved away from the traditional visions that illustrated them as prostitutes or saints.
In this way, Jules Chéret earned the nickname of the “father of women's liberation”. The women of Chéret looked beautiful without being vulgar, they showed a happy lifestyle and freedoms that many of the Parisians yearned for and whose popularity gave them the courage to achieve.
Jules Chéret died in Nice on September 23, 1932. The artist retired to the French Riviera in search of a more comfortable climate to spend his last years. He was buried in the Saint-Vincent Cemetery in Paris.
His work had a fundamental influence on many artists who decided to dedicate themselves to creating posters or advertising. In 1890 the French government granted him the recognition known as the Legion of Honor, for his contribution to the arts..
During his lifetime Chéret made thousands of posters for concerts, plays, and products. His work not only helped the commerce of the time, but also raised the standards of advertising creation..
Following the maxim that each element in the piece should serve a purpose, Jules Chéret revolutionized an entire artistic genre. He also managed to become one of the forerunners of commercial graphic design and earn the nickname "father of the poster.".
At first he closely followed the teachings of Romanticism that he had acquired in his learning days in England. Later, during the 1870s, he wanted to permanently strengthen the link between the cartoon and the poster..
Later, Chéret succeeded in elevating the genre of lithography and posters to the level of fine art. Not only did she consolidate the technique, but she also used issues such as the role of women in society and the changes that occurred in the time she lived..
Regarding the composition, Chéret took the most outstanding elements of the belle epoque and transferred them to their work.
Attractive colors, figures that had a sense of animation, dynamism between textures and shapes that generated a dizzying cascade of emotions, these were some of the elements in his work..
Yet No Comments