“I AM HE, WHO IS”, theatre poster, 1878
Price range: $295.00 through $445.00
In the spring of 1878, a little-known actor named Harry C. Franck had himself billed as Joseph Balsamo, the sorcerer of Dumas’s novel, better known to history as the occultist Cagliostro. His tagline, “I am he, who is”, borrows from the name God gives Moses from the burning bush. Nobody now knows quite why he chose it.
Strange, loud and utterly one of a kind, it was made to stop people in their tracks, and it still does. Hang it wherever you want a conversation to start, and enjoy never quite being able to explain it.
“I AM HE, WHO IS”, theatre poster, 1878
The print
Print Quality: Gallery-standard archival pigment giclée, made to order
Media: 308gsm 100% cotton Hahnemühle Photo Rag
Texture & Tone: Super-matte, smooth chalky finish with soft, muted blacks
Longevity: Museum-grade, generational permanence
Photo Rag suits this poster especially well. Its matte cotton surface holds the flat reds, blues and yellows of the original lithograph without the shine of a glossy reproduction, and keeps the warm, aged paper of the 1878 sheet.
Sizes available:
42×59cm, 17×23″, fine art print, open edition
59×84cm, 23×33″, fine art print, open edition
Safe, tracked delivery guaranteed worldwide, with sustainable packaging.
The story
In March 1878, Paris saw the premiere of Joseph Balsamo, a stage version of Alexandre Dumas’s novel about a near-immortal sorcerer at the court of Louis XV. Begun by Dumas and finished by his son after his death, it was savaged by the critics and closed within about a month.
That same spring, across the Atlantic, an actor named Harry C. Franck was billing himself as Balsamo. His poster was registered for copyright in Washington on 4 April 1878, less than three weeks after the Paris opening.
Balsamo was the real birth name of Cagliostro, the Sicilian adventurer who charmed eighteenth-century Europe with séances, elixirs and hints that he had lived for centuries. Franck’s tagline, “I am he, who is”, borrows from the name God gives Moses from the burning bush. A boast, a blasphemy or a riddle? Nobody now knows. Almost nothing else is known of Franck himself, which rather suits a man who played an immortal.
The poster was printed by Ledger Job Print of Philadelphia in the flat, bright lithographic colour of the day, made to stop people in the street.
