{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1026534"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1026534/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1026534","accessionNumber":"E.1281-1963","objectType":"Poster","titles":[{"title":"Gismonda","type":""}],"summaryDescription":"Victorien Sardou's 'Gismonda' was first produced at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris, 31 October 1894. Mucha was commissioned to produce this poster to promote the new production which opened on 4 January, 1895.  Sarah Bernhardt was both director and actor in the title role.  She is depicted here in the final costume of the performance as a Byzantine noblewoman with a floral crown, holding a palm branch. Bernhardt was so enamoured with the poster, she continued to use the design on the American tour of the show in 1896.","physicalDescription":"Colour poster on two sheets joined.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Mucha, Alphonse","id":"A5481"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Imprimerie Lemercier et Cie","id":"A17675"},"association":{"text":"printers","id":"AAT25732"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"lithography","id":"AAT53271"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Colour lithograph","categories":[{"text":"Theatre","id":"THES250537"},{"text":"Advertising","id":"THES49001"},{"text":"Posters","id":"THES252963"}],"styles":[{"text":"Art Nouveau","id":"AAT21430"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"514 (VA)","id":"THES49549"},"free":"","case":"PR","shelf":"163","box":"L"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"posters","id":"AAT27221"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1895","earliest":"1895-01-01","latest":"1895-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"219.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"size of sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"76.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"size of sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from <u>Victoria & Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1963</u>. London: HMSO, 1964.","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Mucha'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Colour lithograph designed by Alphonse Mucha (on 2 sheets joined) advertising a production of 'Gismonda' at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris, 1895.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<u>Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints and Drawings and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1963 </u>.  London: HMSO, 1964."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Coutts, Howard and Claire Jones  <u>Toulouse Lautrec and the art of the French Poster</u>.  Bowes Museum, 2004. 53 p., ill.  ISBN 0954818202."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"The following excerpt is from the Mucha Foundation, © Mucha Trust:\n\n'The Parisian actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) was the single most influential figure in Mucha’s life as an artist.  It was his first poster for her, Gismonda, that made him famous and he grew both as a man and an artist through his professional collaboration and friendship with the greatest stage personality of the era.\r\n\r\nMucha met Sarah Bernhardt for the first time in late 1894.  Legend says that on St. Stephen’s Day (26th December) Mucha, then a humble illustrator, was doing a favour for a friend, correcting proofs at Lemercier’s printing workshop, when the actress called the printer with an immediate demand for a new poster for her production of Gismonda. All the regular Lemercier artists were on holiday, so Mucha was turned to in desperation. Despite his lack of experience in designing posters, Mucha grabbed this opportunity and, to his own amazement, ‘La divine Sarah’ loved his work. \r\n\r\nMucha’s Gismonda posters were up all over Paris on the morning of 1st January 1895 and they were to revolutionise poster design. The long narrow shape, the subtle pastel colours and the stillness of the near life-size figure introduced a note of dignity and sobriety, which were quite startling in their novelty. The posters immediately became objects of desire to collectors, many of whom used clandestine methods to obtain them, either bribing bill stickers or simply going out at night and cutting them down from the hoardings.\r\n\r\nDelighted with the success of Gismonda, Sarah Bernhardt immediately offered Mucha a contract to produce stage and costume designs as well as posters.  Under this contract, Mucha produced six more posters for her productions: La Dame aux Camélias (1896), Lorenzaccio (1896), La Samaritaine (1897), Médée (1898), La Tosca (1898) and Hamlet (1899). Mucha applied to these posters the same design principle as that he had developed for Gismonda – the use of an elongated format with a single, full-standing figure of the actress placed in a raised shallow alcove like a saint.'"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[{"text":"Bernhardt, Sarah","id":"N5599"}],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[{"text":"Gismonda","id":"V905"}],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"play","id":"AAT201028"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.1281-1963"],"accessionNumberNum":"1281","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1963,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-18","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}