Marguerite Dufay

&quotAmong the specialized terms used to distinguish Paris music-hall entertainers, Dufay fell into the category of comique excentrique. To Hiatt, she was ‘merely a woman of impossible fatness who performs at various Paris music halls on the trombone.’ The poster itself, however, drew wide contemporary praise. In Maindron’s words, ‘this composition, so simple and barely coloured, is a remarkable study, and has an extraordinary effect’ (Hiatt p.36). And Hiatt cannot gush enough: ‘It is safe to say that, once seen, it will never be forgotten&#8230The mirth of the thing is victorious and infectious one seems almost to hear the coarse laugh the ample body in the green dress seems to move as one stares at it. In line, in movement, this poster is&#8230a veritable masterpiece’ (Hiatt p.113).