Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt
La Plume art edition poster
Colour lithograph, 1897

In this poster Bernhardt is portrayed in her role of the heroine, Mélissinde, in the play La Princesse Lointaine written for her by Edmond Rostand and premièred in 1895. When Mucha was asked to design a poster with the dual purpose of announcing a banquet to be held on December 9, 1896 in honour of the leading actress and also publicising a forthcoming article about her in La Plume magazine, he portrayed her in this role. The poster proved a great success, prompting Mucha’s publisher, F. Champenois, to recycle the design for a collectors’ edition poster without the text, as seen here, and for a postcard.