Vintage original 44.5 x 62.25 in. (113 x 158 cm.) "country of origin" stone lithograph French grande poster/affiche to advertise the SALLE DE L'ETOILE (THE HALL OF STARS) c.1902. Created just after the dawn of commercial cinema, this poster was created to promote events, including films and plays, that were held at the theatre at Place Badouilliere in St. Etienne, France, just a day trip 310 miles south of Paris. These early film screenings consisted of a program of very short (usually 1 minute or less) films depicting real-life events, or "actualities," just before the trend of fictional/narrative stories began to develop. The artwork depicts a well-to-do audience seated near a motion picture projector as its beam of light illuminates the screen while a woman wearing a star-themed dress and holding a star-capped staff stands regally next to the projector. The artwork was designed by the French visual artist Leon Gabriel Louis Coulet and features his signature beneath the legs of the projector stand. Printed by A. Pomeon Ses Fils (St. Chamond), it has been linen-backed in the European Style on older linen and is in fine- condition as shown. This is a rare and historic poster from the beginnings of projected commercial cinema and is a beautiful piece of art in itself.