Wrestling/ Folies Bergère/ Ibels. Spectacular original poste - Lot 331

Wrestling/ Folies Bergère/ Ibels. Spectacular original poster, lithograph: "Grand Prix de Paris de Lutte, Championnat International aux Folies Bergère...". By Henri Gabriel Ibels (1867-1936). The champion in his black boxer shorts will swing the red over his shoulders. Small tear at bottom, with piece of interlining to be taken up otherwise ABE. 116X81. These tournaments, organized at the Folies, the Casino and elsewhere, lasted over a month, with a rousing title at the finish... The fledgling sports press, like the aperitif merchants (Dubonnet and others), supported them tooth and nail... They featured all the great figures interviewed, from Paul Pons to Apollon, via Maurice Deriaz, or Zbysko, and all the "valued foreigners of the planet with names of war...and spectacle...". Here we are in 1900, in the midst of the Exposition Universelle (the 5th in Paris), the Swiss village tournament...