Théâtre des Nouveautés. The First Kiss
1883
Imagine walking down the Boulevard Montmartre in 1883 and seeing this splash of color. It’s a poster for 'Le Premier Baiser' (The First Kiss), a comic opera at the Théâtre des Nouveautés. The artist, Ernest Buval, created a whimsical collage where three characters—a serious lady with a flower hat, a happy man in a feathered cap, and a soldier—float in ivy-wreathed frames. Below the giant, swirling red title, a couple rides a donkey toward a mountain chalet, setting the scene for the story. The composer Emile Jonas gets top billing at the bottom in massive letters, proving that in 19th-century Paris, the musician was often the real star of the show.