I collected my poster from Alain today.
Indeed, I had the pleasure of watching him add some finishing touches to it. There is something delightfully theatrical about the way he works; there is either concentration that excludes all else, or he is distracted by this and that as it comes up for interest. There is no doubting that he is supremely good at his work but he admits he has become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material that has been sent to him so, while I was there, his framer, Louise, was good-naturedly chivying him along.
His studio had various works in progress, one of which was an antique circus theatrical poster that arrived in bits apparently but was now looking positively gorgeous in its unfinished state. He also had a French half sheet-sized poster for Moulin Rouge (1952 John Huston) which even unstarted looked glorious, and once it is bleached and restored, you could see that the reds would absolutely pop.
I performed a quick search for this poster but could not see it. It is a variation of the high kicking girl, mostly reds, and landscaped.
Anyway, Alain is not taking any more posters on until he a) clears his stock and b) effecs a move to Kent.
There were multiple apologies so, he is aware of everything. Sorry to hear of others' woes.