Monod Théodore

1899 · Best.-Nr. 74834 — Paris: Imprimerie Champenoispour CH. MassonH. Piazza 1899. Fine. Imprimerie Champenois pour CH. Masson H. Piazza Paris Mars 1899 30.50 x 25 cm une feuille Rare original lithograph executed by Lucien Hector Monod for L'Estampe Moderne series number 23 published in March 1899. One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on China paper with wide margins artist's signature in the plate publisher's dry stamp depicting a child's profile in the lower margin mounted on a sheet of laid paper with the numbered luxury edition stamp on the verso some foxing. Lithograph inspired by an extract from a work by Henri de Régnier. Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899 L'Estampe moderne consists of original chromolithographs which unlike other magazines such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards were created specially by each artist for the magazine. Thus 100 prints appeared in total covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism Art Nouveau Pre-Raphaelites Orientalists and Belle Époque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential very deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F. This print of beautiful format is superbly printed on one of the most prestigious papers: China paper. ""Despite all its qualities China paper too inconsistent owes its reputation not to its own beauty but indeed to its particular affinities with printing ink. Its texture smooth and soft together is more apt than any other to receive a beautiful printing. This property makes China paper sought after for printing engravings."" Anatole France. The interest of French collectors in artistic posters intensified at the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne to qualify this fever invented the term ""affichomanie."" The poster originally popular and plastered in the streets of the capital then became an art object and its ephemeral support became precious and destined for preservation. Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising vocation and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right on the same level as the illustrated deluxe book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure Eugène Grasset Henri Detouche Emile Berchmans Louis Rhead Gaston de Latenay Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer Gustave-Max Stevens Charles Doudelet Hans Christiansen Henri Fantin-Latour Steinlen Ibels Engels Willette Henri Meunier Evenepoël Bellery-Desfontaines Charles Léandre etc. Handsome copy. Imprimerie Champenoispour CH. MassonH. Piazza unknown