Beschreibung:

MAURICE BIAIS (1872-1926) SCALA. 1901. 48 1/8x32 1/8 inches. J. Minot, Paris. Condition A. The son of a rich public notary, Maurice Biais was a talented artist who designed numerous illustrations and graphics. He worked both for Siegfried Bing and his gallery l'Art Nouveau as well as for Bing's competitor at the Maison Moderne , Meier Greffe. Socially, however, Biais was no angel, and is remembered for his active Montmartre night life. In 1911, he married the performer Jane Avril, no angel herself, in a doomed, short-lived union. Throughout his career Biais traveled frequently, often to escape bad debts. He was a gambler, drinker and heavy smoker. He was not on speaking terms with his family and was known to disappear for weeks at a time. That said, he had a very original talent, which he used to design fewer than a dozen posters. This café concert scene, composed of only a few colors, is a masterpiece of composition, comparable to some of the best works of Toulouse-Lautrec. The poster, advertising the concert hall, focuses more on the story in front of the stage, rather than the performer on the stage. The delectably depraved image is of an elegant lady watching a performance. She in turn is being eyed over by a lecherous young man with a cigarette insouciantly wedged between his lips (conceivably this is a self portrait of Biais, as the face also appears in his poster for Quinquina Vouvray ). The performer, who could very well be Jane Avril, is cleverly positioned in the middle of the image, seen from a diving perspective, in a bright red dress. The mysterious image is reminiscent of the atmospheric and morally ambiguous cabaret posters of Walter Schnackenberg. Masters 1900 p. 63, Wember 131.