Mucha

1897 · réf. 73887 — Paris: Imprimerie Champenoispour CH. MassonH. Piazza 1897. Fine. Imprimerie Champenois pour CH. Masson H. Piazza Paris s. d. Mai 1897 22 x 38 cm une feuille et une serpente ""L'incantation"" Salammbô – Original lithograph on papier japon – L'Estampe Moderne L'Estampe Moderne Imprimerie Champenois for C H Masson & H Piazza Paris june 1897 subject: 23.5 x 33 cm plate: 40.8 x 55 cm one leaf and one captioned silk tissue Rare Alphonse Mucha color lithograph heightened with gold for L'Estampe Moderne 'The free first prize reserved to subscribers to a whole annual run of L'Estampe Moderne'. One of 50 'grand luxe' prints with wide margins signed by the artist in the plate publisher's stamp to lower margin de luxe printing numbered stamp to verso upper margin slightly sunned; the plate itself preceded by a silk tissue with the name of the artist title a poem and a caption - a tear to the tissue not affecting the text. A lithograph inspired by Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô with a excerpt from the novel printed on the silk protective paper: “And Salammbô went out onto the balcony of her palace”. L'Estampe moderne was a magnificent monthly French publication published between May 1897 and April 1899. It included unpublished chromolithographs specially made by each artist for the magazine – as mentioned on the protective silk tissue over each plate – unlike other publications such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche. 100 prints were published in total covering major artistic movements of the late 19th-century: Symbolism Art Nouveau Pre-Raphaelites Orientalists and ‘Belle époque'. 2000 copies were printed of each fascicule containing four prints and sold for 3.50F. 100 copies were printed on papier japon for 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a very luxurious secret print of 50 copies on papier japon with wide margins and 50 in black and white on papier chine at the considerable price of 30F. This well-sized print is superbly printed in colors on the most prestigious of papers: japon. Thick creamy satin and with a nice sheen it contributes to making each page a work of art in itself. Its qualities of absorption and its affinity for colors make it the ideal support for these lovely lithographs. The interest of French collectors for artistic posters grew from the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne invented a term for this new form of collection: ‘affichomanie' or poster mania. The initially common poster displayed in the streets of Paris became a work of art and its ephemeral material became precious and made to last. Piazza decided to separate the poster from its advertising role and to elevate it to a form of art similarly to luxury illustrated artists' books. He put together a prestigious collection of entirely original artworks by the most fashionable European artists: 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. He also included in this project a Czech artist freshly arrived in Paris Alfonse Mucha “who has only recently become active in France but immediately carved out for himself the affection of the public. Like his posters which everyone knows and covets he shows us here the varied resources of his multifaceted talents as accomplished draughstman decorator and colorist” from the notes printed on the silk protective paper of Salomé. The two first special numbers of the journal were in fact dedicated to him and were given to “all the subscribers for all twelve annual numbers of L'Estampe moderne” as well as the famous illustration of the covers. A fine signed plate by the master of Art nouveau. Imprimerie Champenoispour CH. MassonH. Piazza unknown