Sarah Bernhardt

Sarah Bernhardt (French: [saʁa bɛʁnɑʁt]; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils, Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, Fédora and La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, and L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand. She played female and male roles, including Shakespeare's Hamlet. Rostand called her "the queen of the pose and the princess of the gesture", and Hugo praised her "golden voice". She made several theatrical tours worldwide and was one of the early prominent actresses to make sound recordings and act in motion pictures. She was also an accomplished visual artist, as a painter and particularly as a sculptor.

At the height of her world fame, Bernhardt commissioned the first lithographic theater poster created by the then-unknown artist Alphonse Mucha for the play she was starring in and directing: Gismonda. Bernhardt was delighted with the result, gave him a contract for six more posters, and Mucha became one of the more sought-after artists of this period for his Art Nouveau style.