Given that the Belle Epoque era is one of the most written about era’s, this vintage poster is an anomaly. We’ve delved deep into museum sites, archive.org, book archives and much more, and there is no online information about the career or life of the dance artist featured on the poster, Katharine Roland.
The only things we can glean from the item is her name is spelled, with a letter A, in the Greek way. Of course, that doesn’t mean she was Greek, but it is likely she came from Greek parentage.
Her surname, Roland, assuming it is her real name, has its early origins in Gaelic Scotland and was found in the USA, UK, Canada and Scotland between 1840 and 1920.
The vintage poster states Roland was “America’s favorite”, so it would make the liklihood of her being American herslef is quite high.
There is no actually event or venue information on the poster, however, it does explain she will be performing “in her Dance Illuiminée”. The term used is French. However the lead in words are in English, so the use of the phrase Danse Illuminée was probably used to take advantage of the popularity of what was happening in Paris.
The poster was printed in London, England by E Weller in 1895, which would suggest she was performing somewhere in the UK and probably London.
Judging by the image on the poster, her act is obviously based on the routine of Miss Loie Fuller who became an overnight success with her serpentine dance in Paris.
Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.
