A poster featuring a colorized photograph of Sarah Bernhardt in tones of peach, green, and gold. She is shown in profile, wearing an elaborate costume, above her name and a list of the company’s repertoire

Poster for Sarah Bernhardt and Company playing a repertoire from La Tosca, Camille, Theodora, Lucrèce Borgia, Phèdre, and One Christmas Night in vaudeville
1912
Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

Poster for Sarah Bernhardt and Company playing a repertoire from La Tosca, Camille, Theodora, Lucrèce Borgia, Phèdre, and One Christmas Night in vaudeville

Regarded as the greatest international diva of her time, the French actress and theatre director Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) had a brilliant and tempestuous career spanning more than 60 years. She toured around the world for decades, first performing in New York City in 1880. In 1912 and 1913, under the management of leading theatre impresario Martin Beck, Bernhardt and her company performed some of her best-loved single acts on tour across the United States. Through her collaborations in the 1880s with the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha, Bernhardt became associated with larger-than-life posters; this example by American graphic designers for her Beck tour continued that artistic effect. An expansive field of textured gold ink accentuates Bernhardt’s contemplative profile and opulent costume.

: Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Art…

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