Lot 387: Leslie Carter.

Leslie Carter.
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
Strobridge Litho., Cincinnati, OH
Cond A-/Slight tears and creases at edges. Framed.
Among the oddest and least lucrative projects Mucha became involved with in the United States was the production of a play named 'Kassa' by Mrs. Leslie Carter. He contributed stage, costume and scenery design, as well as the poster, to a vanity project by a flamboyant personality who aspired to be a great actress: the former Caroline Dudley of Kentucky who made her fortune by marrying and divorcing millionaire Leslie Carter (Lendl/Paris, p. 109). "Kassa, a Hungarian virgin ready to enter a convent, was seduced by Prince Bela, who a year later left her with a child. Kassa became insane and entered a convent, thinking that only a single day had passed. According to Jiri Mucha, his father made 250 designs for the project, but since the play was a failure and Carter went bankrupt, neither he nor Long, the author, received an honorarium" (Mucha/Art Nouveau, p. 174). The play flopped: the poster endures.
1908
30 1/8 x 81 1/2 in./76.5 x 207 cm