Theater Program for Sleeping Beauty, Silver Wedding, and Ahasvère 1893

Curator: I see a print that whispers of late 19th century Paris – absinthe fumes, theater buzz, and the rustle of newspapers attempting to keep up with the dizzying speed of life. Editor: This is a theater program from 1893 by Henri-Gabriel Ibels, advertising Sleeping Beauty, Silver Wedding, and Ahasvère, rendered in a charming print. It almost feels like we're eavesdropping on a private moment. Everyone's absorbed in their news, but there's a distinct sense of underlying… tension? What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: The compression, darling. Ibels crams these figures – and their dramas, both printed and lived – into this shallow space. Look at how those newspapers act as both shields and megaphones, the public discourse pressed intimately close. And the red! A pulsating, velvet claustrophobia. Does it make you wonder about what kind of drama's playing out behind those newspapers? Editor: Absolutely! I get a sense of being watched, and now that you point out the velvet texture, it gives a feeling of luxury and secrecy at the same time. Are they really paying attention to the plays, or are they escaping something else? Curator: Perhaps, they are seeking escape through art, but find the same anxieties lurking in print, reflected in the red plush of their fleeting leisure. Editor: So it's not really escapism, it is rather another mirror, reflecting and amplifying daily life. Curator: Precisely! Perhaps it's a comment on art, society, escapism. A bit of Ibels' witty observation caught mid-air, like those dangling hats, don't you think? Editor: This piece makes a theatre seem both appealing and strangely alienating. Food for thought! Curator: It truly does. A pocket-sized drama ripe for a thousand interpretations.