Willette

1899 · réf. 74842 — Paris: Imprimerie Champenoispour CH. MassonH. Piazza 1899. Fine. Imprimerie Champenois pour CH. Masson H. Piazza Paris Avril 1899 23.50 x 30 cm une feuille et une serpente Rare original lithograph executed by Adolphe Willette for L'Estampe Moderne after the drawing exhibited at the Luxembourg Museum series number 24 published in April 1899. One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with wide margins laid paper mounted on Japan paper artist's signature in the plate publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin numbered stamp of the deluxe printing on verso; engraving preceded by a tissue guard captioned with the artist's name title and text. Lithograph inspired by a poem extracted from the collection Chatîments by Victor Hugo reproduced on the print's tissue guard. 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. A total of 100 prints were thus published covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism Art Nouveau Pre-Raphaelites Orientalists and Belle Époque. Each issue of four prints was printed in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F. This beautifully formatted print is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: Japan paper. Thick silky satiny and pearlescent it contributes to making each page a work in its own right. Its ink absorption quality and its affinity with colours also make it the ideal support for these very beautiful lithographs. French collectors' interest in artistic posters intensified in the early 1890s. Octave Uzanne to describe this fever invented the term ""affichomanie"". The poster originally popular and pasted on the streets of the capital then became an art object and its ephemeral medium became precious and destined for preservation. Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right on the same level as the illustrated luxury 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