Poster for the Thêàtre Sarah Bernhardt production of Tragique histoire d’Hamlet, prince de Danemark, Sarah Bernhardt

Regarded as the greatest international diva of her time, French actress and theatre director Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923) had a brilliant and tempestuous career spanning more than 60 years. Beginning in the mid-1890s, she commissioned young Czech artist Alphonse Mucha to design several posters to promote her appearances in the two Paris theatres that she owned and operated. These striking images for Hamlet and Lorenzaccio depict Bernhardt in the powerful male leading roles for which she achieved tremendous acclaim in the later decades of her career. Critically praised for his highly stylized graphic designs for Bernhardt, Mucha is recognized today as one of the leading innovators of the Art Nouveau movement.



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