MANUEL ORAZI LIGUE VINICOLE DE FRANCE. Circa 1901.

39 1/2x55 inches. Charles Verneau, Paris.
Condition B+: restoration, restored losses and creases in margins and image; vertical and horizontal folds.
For years, before modern medicine could actually confirm the claims, the French always regarded wine as a drink that was almost healthy, unlike distilled spirits, especially absinthe, which were considered the enemy of the working class. Such positive public perception was brought about by lobbying organizations like La Ligue Vinicole, the French Wine Guild. To make their case they even quote Frederic Passy, the famed economist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, who encourages the French to drink "natural, healthy wine." Throughout the Art Nouveau era Orazi designed a few posters, all of which remain striking and flamboyant (La Maison Moderne, L'Hippodrome, Loie Fuller). Here he has designed a very symbolic image, representing many of the positive attributes of wine drinking, with a woman, dressed a l'antique, sensually crushing grapes in a bowl into which a little cupid dips his arrow. Wine Spectator 91.