Salon des Cent

Salon des Cent ("Salon of the One Hundred") was a commercial art exhibition in Paris, based at 31 Rue Bonaparte. The Salon sold color posters, prints and reproductions of artwork to the general public at reasonable prices. It was established in February 1894 by Léon Deschamps, founder of La Plume ("The Pen") an avant garde literary and artistic magazine. It became known for its exhibitions showcasing the works of contemporary graphical artists. The salon held exhibitions until 1900. Many of the posters advertising Salon des Cent exhibitions have themselves become collectors' items.

La Plume was an artistic and literary journal founded by Léon Deschamps in 1889, at first located on 36 Boulevard Arago. Articles in La Plume covered a broad range of subjects ranging from realism, socialism and anarchism to Catholic mysticism and the aristocracy. The journal moved to 31 Rue Bonaparte in July 1891, where the spacious new offices gave room to mount art exhibitions. Before these began, La Plume displayed various objects in the "Salon de la Plume", with the visual arts taking second place to objects associated with literature, poetry and philosophy.

Advances in color lithography in the 1890s made it practical to make large posters for use as advertisements, and also for art collectors. A poster craze developed, with huge demand for Art Nouveau lithographs in Europe and America. The growing focus of La Plume on contemporary graphical art was clearly established by the publication of an issue of La Plume in November 1893 dedicated to the history of the poster. At times the magazine would devote a special issue to one artist. These included Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, James Ensor, Alexandre Falguière, André des Gachons, Eugène Grasset, Henry de Groux, Alphonse Mucha and Auguste Rodin.

In theory Le Salon des Cent was a group of one hundred artists, hence the name, but there was never a precise list and participation varied. Some artists were invited to become members, including Puvis de Chavannes, Jules Chéret, Grasset and Marcellin Desboutin. Others were simply artists who had been asked to participate in exhibitions. The salon had no jury and no prizes, and the artists could choose what they wanted to exhibit, being constrained only by the available space. The Salon des Cent publicized itself as a permanent, constantly changing exhibition of its members' works. It exerted considerable influence on development of the Art Nouveau poster.

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