Original Jules Cheret Poster Saxoleine, 1893 - Imp. Chaix

This is an original lithographic poster created in 1893 by Jules Chéret for Saxoleine — the refined safety petroleum widely used in indoor lamps during the late 19th century, marketed as a safer and cleaner alternative to ordinary lamp oil. Printed by the Imprimerie Chaix, the workshop that Chéret himself directed and through which he transformed the streets of Paris into the world's most celebrated outdoor gallery, this poster is among the finest surviving examples of the golden age of French commercial lithography.

Jules Chéret (1836–1932) is the undisputed father of the modern poster. Before Chéret, advertising printing was flat, crude and typographic. It was Chéret who, after training in London and mastering the most advanced British colour lithographic techniques, returned to Paris and invented something entirely new: the large-format, multi-colour lithographic poster as a work of art in its own right. His genius lay not in technical innovation alone, but in the creation of a visual archetype — the joyful, luminous, spirited woman he placed at the centre of nearly every composition. Toulouse-Lautrec called him a master. Seurat, Renoir and Pissarro acknowledged his influence. The French government awarded him the Légion d'honneur in 1890 specifically for his contribution to the graphic arts.

The Saxoleine campaign was one of Chéret's most celebrated series — he created multiple versions of this poster over several years, each one a variation on the central theme of a woman in brilliant light, the lamp her prop, her joy and freedom the product's promise. In an era before electricity, the safety lamp was a domestic revolution, and Chéret understood instinctively how to make modernity beautiful. The figures he created for these posters — known as Chérettes — became the visual shorthand for Parisian femininity and joie de vivre throughout the Belle Époque.

The poster has been freshly linen backed — the gold standard of vintage poster conservation — with professional restorations carried out on tears and areas of wear, ensuring the piece is stable, flat, and ready for framing. See pictures for full condition details.

A masterpiece of the Belle Époque — Chéret at the height of his powers, for the campaign that made him a household name across Paris.