Sun

Feb

PAI-LXXIV: Rare Posters

live Auction • 11 AM EST • New York, NY

Live Auction

Description

The auction will be held on Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 11AM EDT at Rennert’s Gallery or you may bid online, by phone or by absentee order bid. The sale will be continuous with no breaks.

Viewing:
Friday, February 9 to Saturday, February 24 (Daily 11AM-6PM)

THEMES
Circus: 32 posters, including the finest Strobridge-printed images for Barnum & Bailey, Ringling, Forepaugh & Sells, and others. Aviation: Our biggest, best selection ever: 70 posters, featuring early air shows, long-ago airlines, zeppelins – all by top artists such as Rambert, Dorival, Christy, Carlu, Codognato, Wiertz, Colin, Kauffer and Klein. Bicycles: 13 early bicycle posters. Automobiles: 15 choice images, such as Loupot’s Voisin and Vincent’s Peugeot. Loïe Fuller and her followers: 8 charming images, including works of Pal, Choubrac, Galice and Gray. Absinthe: The Green Fairy tempts, and posters condemn, in 5 historic images. Travel: More than 100 posters extolling the glamour and excitement of vacation destinations: The slopes of Sun Valley, the beaches of Tunisia, the mountains of Switzerland, topped off by the finest and rarest works of Broders as well as the rare, larger-format of Domergue’s Winter in Monte Carlo. The Chisholm Collection: We’re honored to present 70 posters from the estate of Gail Chisholm, one of New York’s greatest poster dealers and curators..

PRINCIPAL ARTISTS
Cappiello: 30 (Chocolat Klaus, Sancta, Parapluie Revel, Cinzano, Bal Masque & 4 maquettes). Cassandre: 17 (Grand Sport, Nord Express, Etoile du Nord, Dubonnet). Colin: 13 (Featuring extremely fine Jazz Age drawings from his Tumulte Noir period). Mucha: 18 (the 1896 Seasons, Zodiac, Reverie, Job, Benedictine, Hamlet, the Arts). Toulouse-Lautrec: 17 (Reine de Joie, Caudieux, Confetti)

OTHER ARTISTS
Beall, Bonnard, Bradley, Broders, Brodovitch, Chagall, Chéret, Codognato, Depero, Domergue, Dransy, Gesmar, Grasset, Hohlwein, Klinger, Livemont, Loupot, Mauzan, Pal, Penfield, Savignac, Schnackenberg, Steinlen, Stenberg Bros., Villemot, Villon, Vincent, Weiluc.

OUR 74RD AUCTION CATALOGUE
Order the complete 188-page catalogue online at www.posterauctions.com

Viewing

February 9-24 (Daily 11-6)

Location

Rennert's Gallery, 26 W 17TH ST (Between 5th & 6th Ave.)

506 Lots

Barnum & Bailey / Paradise Alley. 1897.

Passed

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 37 x 29 1/8 in./94 x 74 cm
Condition: B+/ Slight tears at vertical fold. Framed.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: Affiches/Weill p. 301; Phillips VIII, 32; PAI-LXXII, 100
Key Words: Circus; Animals

Barnum & Bailey / Paradise Alley. 1897.
One of the most interesting and unique of all circus poster images ever created. Here, for your amazéd eyes, are "The two greatest riders in horse sketches true / Of Paradise Alley and Fifth Avenoo." Paradise Alley, the deepest darkest den of Five Points (where the Bowery Boys and the Dead Rabbits battled in "Gangs of New York"), delivers a hardscrabble working-class gal, atop a rough nag (a sign around the horse's neck reads, "My chest is week" [sic]). Opposing her is the belle of Manhattan gentry, all silk and lace, standing upon a charging white Arabian stallion. In reality, they're Josie Ashton and Rose Wentworth, two of the greatest equestriennes in show business. They perform among a cavalcade of cheering clowns and little people, in a spectacle of the ages.

artist

ANONYMOUS

Passed

Barnum & Bailey/Peerless Prodigies of Physical Phenomena. 1898.

Sold

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 36 3/4 x 28 3/4 in./93.3 x 73 cm
Condition: B+/ Unobtrusive vertical fold, slight tears at bottom text area. Framed.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: PAI-XLI, 39
Key Words: Circus

Barnum & Bailey/Peerless Prodigies of Physical Phenomena. 1898.
An amazing array of “Marvelous Living Human Curiosities” adorn this 1-sheet horizontal spectacular for Barnum & Bailey’s Greatest Show On Earth. This attraction, more commonly referred to as a Sideshow, brought together some of the most fascinating folks anyone could ever hope to meet: The Armless Wonder, The Georgia Magnet, The Human Pin-Cushion, The Great Expansionist and The Human Skye Terrier, just to name a few. Of course, the usual suspects are all in attendance: The Bearded Lady, The Tattooed People, The Living Skeleton and The Glass Eater.

artist

ANONYMOUS

Sold $3,120

Barnum & Bailey / Exhibition d'Hommes & Femme Phenomenes.

Sold

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 36 3/4 x 29 in./93.4 x 73.5 cm
Condition: B/ Slight tears at folds. Framed.
Printer: Courmont Frères, Paris
Reference:
Key Words: Circus

Barnum & Bailey / Exhibition d'Hommes & Femme Phenomenes.
That is not Chewbacca at left. That's Jo-Jo, the Russian Poodle Man, and this is Barnum & Bailey's Sideshow arriving in France. This original Strobridge design was translated and printed in Paris (a French tax stamp is at upper left), delivering une piquant je ne sais quoi to Little Peter the Great; John MacDonald, the Human Mastodon; Koguri, the Japanese Artist Without Arms; miniature Queen Mab; and some 30 other prodigies of nature. Magnifique!

artist

ANONYMOUS

Sold $3,120

Barnum & Bailey / Coney Island. 1898.

Sold

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 27 1/4 x 37 in./69.3 x 94 cm
Condition: A-/ Unobtrusive horizontal fold. Framed.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: PAI-LXII, 233
Key Words: Circus

Barnum & Bailey / Coney Island. 1898.
Beginning in 1880, and continuing until World War II, Coney Island was the single biggest amusement area in the United States. For more than a century it's been adored for the pure carnival fantasy of it, the mass congregation of its sideshow characters, and an atmosphere of devil-may-care lunacy. This classic poster was used by Barnum & Bailey for their British tour of 1898-1899, and served to enhance the reputation of this freewheeling national treasure in New York City. A visual delight as well as a historic document of great interest, this image was also published in the more common horizontal format (see PAI-XIV, 20). Bottom text reads: "Remarkable head-foremost dives from enormous heights into shallow depths of water, together with thrilling & daring aquatic & sub-aqueous feats of every description."

artist

ANONYMOUS

Sold $8,400

Barnum & Bailey / Baby Giraffe. 1916.

Sold

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 27 1/2 x 37 1/2 in./70 x 95.3 cm
Condition: B/ Slight tears at horizontal fold and upper right corner. Framed.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: PAI-LXV, 83
Key Words: Circus; Animals

Barnum & Bailey / Baby Giraffe. 1916.
In vivid colors, and featuring the highly-collectable cameo images of Barnum and Bailey in the upper left, this poster announces the debut of the first and only baby giraffe on American soil. The expression of the ringmaster, as he's feeding Baby Giraffe, is priceless.

artist

ANONYMOUS

Sold $2,040

B&B Greatest Show on Earth. 1897.

Passed

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 29 5/8 x 39 1/8 in./75.3 x 99.3 cm
Condition: A-/ Unobtrusive folds.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: Fox-Parkinson, p. 64; Circus Lore, pl. 10; PAI-XXXIX, 10; Phillips VIII, 112; PAI-LIV, 1
Key Words: Circus

B&B Greatest Show on Earth. 1897.
It's apocryphal: we're not entirely sure P.T. Barnum actually said "There's a sucker born every minute, and two to take 'em," but that doesn't mean derivative con-artists didn't take his lead. Circuses were such a large money maker around the turn of the century, many fake and fly-by-night operations emerged, either taking the ticket sale money and running out of town or performing with far fewer acts and animals than originally advertised. Having the owners' sober faces on a poster instilled confidence in potential customers. "As a general thing," P.T. Barnum actually said, "I have not 'duped the world' nor attempted to do so... I have generally given people the worth of their money twice told."

artist

ANONYMOUS

Passed

Barnum & Bailey / Greatest Show on Earth. 1894.

Sold

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 72 3/4 x 27 1/4 in./184.8 x 89.2 cm
Condition: B+/ Slight tears at seam. Framed.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: PAI-LIV, 9
Key Words: Circus; Animals

Barnum & Bailey / Greatest Show on Earth. 1894.
A spectacular, early two-sheet banner displaying the jawdropping acts of The Greatest Show on Earth. Horse-leaping, show-jumping, acrobat-tumbling, bear-wrestling, cat-boxing, human-tower-tumbling, and clown-japing marvels abound. This is a two-sheet poster.

artist

ANONYMOUS

Sold $5,280

Barnum & Bailey / Two Living Human Prodigies. 1897.

Sold

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 28 1/8 x 38 1/8 in./71.4 x 96.7 cm
Condition: A-/ Unobtrusive horizontal fold. Framed.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: Strobridge, p. 77
Key Words: Circus

Barnum & Bailey / Two Living Human Prodigies. 1897.
"Two living HUMAN PRODIGIES: Midget Man and Giant Giantess: A perfect little gentleman weighing only SIX POUNDS, a cyclopean young lady weighing over 300 POUNDS. THE LITTLEST and THE BIGGEST MORTALS SIDE BY SIDE. A veritable female colossus and her microscopic gentleman escort: THE ANTIPODES OF HUMANITY, in very truth a meeting of living extremes," begins the small print of Barnum & Bailey's 1897 attraction. Miss Ella Ewing, "the most gigantic lady" (1872-1913) suffered from pituitary gigantism, wore a size 24 shoe, and may have been as tall as 8'4" by the age of 22. After a childhood of embarrassment and shame, her circus and sideshow contracts provided an extraordinary sum of money for her, delivering economic independence for her in Missouri. Much less is known of "Great Peter the Small," a dwarf who supposedly stood 28" high and weighed 6 1/2 lbs.

artist

ANONYMOUS

Sold $2,400

Barnum & Bailey / The Paldrens. 1915.

Passed

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 27 3/8 in./36 7/8 in./69.6 x 93.8 cm
Condition: B+/ Slight tears at horizontal folds.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference:
Key Words: Circus

Barnum & Bailey / The Paldrens. 1915.
The Paldrens! "Sensational jumping, balancing and pyramiding on burning lamps. Their first appearance in America." Why the Paldrens took to balancing themselves on and between lamps, especially when suspended from propeller planes, is beyond us. Apparently they were still performing in 1921, according to a California paper, but they had gained two men and apparently lost several women from their act. Small cameos of Barnum & Bailey occupy the upper left corner.

artist

ANONYMOUS

Passed

Barnum & Bailey / Cleopatra. 1912.

Sold

Description

Artist: ANONYMOUS
Size: 29 1/4 x 38 3/4 in./74.2 x 98.3 cm
Condition: A.
Printer: Strobridge, Cincinnati
Reference: Ref: Circus Posters, 58 & back cover; PAI-LVIII, 29
Key Words: Circus; Animals

Barnum & Bailey / Cleopatra. 1912.
A universe of delight is held within the margins of this astonishingly, impossibly detailed Barnum & Bailey poster from 1912. Clockwise, from upper left: "Presenting This Year The Most Magnificent Free Street Parade Ever Seen," with Austro-Hungarian horse-masters leading a throng of Turks on camels and Indians on elephants; "A Congress of Japan's Strong Men, Gladiators, Swordsmen, Wrestlers, Jiu-Jitsu and Athletic Champions"; "World's Biggest Menagerie"; "The Grandeur and Opulence of Cleopatra's Court"; "A Ballet of 300 Entrancingly Beautiful Dancing Girls" for Cleopatra's Pageant; "Cleopatra...Watching the Approach of the Roman Conqueror Mark Antony"; and "Winston's Remarkable Bare-Back Riding, Juggling, Acrobatic Seals." The top frieze is a border of various circus elements dominated by an elephant’s trunk.

artist

ANONYMOUS

Sold $3,600

Description

PAI-LXXIV: Rare Posters

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