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ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
107
●
CASSAN FILS. 1896.
68
1
/
4
x26
1
/
8
inches, 173
1
/
2
x68
3
/
8
cm. Cassan Fils,
Toulouse.
Condition B+: water stain in lower right corner;
repaired tears and creases in margins and image
and along vertical and horizontal folds; speckling
along seam. Two-sheets. Framed. Unexamined
out of frame.
Cassan was once the largest and most important
lithographer in Southwest France. This poster,
Mucha’s elaborate and exquisite self-advertisement
for the printer, features a seamless blend of
printing imagery with fantasy. “The muscular
printer is an allegorical figure, representing the
[printing] industry. An unusual border of eyes
in the mosaic background probably is meant
to indicate the multitude of readers for whom
the printing trade works. It is also one of the
mystic symbols used by Mucha in several other
works” (Rennert / Weill p. 70). The young
lady is herself representative of the public that
patronizes printers. In a brilliant self-referential
detail, this woman, marked by her beauty, a
state of semi-undress and stylized cascading
hair, is pulling prints straight off the press that
feature other young women with equally
flowing locks - as if Mucha were indicating
how his archetypical treatment of female tresses
was about to take over the industry. This is the
large format. Rennert / Weill 11, Lendl p. 109,
Mucha / Bridges A24, Reims 897, Brno 25,
Mucha Grand Palais 25, Mucha / Henderson 74,
Triumph des Jugendstils 21, DFP-II 640.
[6,000/9,000]