?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
ADOLPHO HOHENSTEIN (1854-1928) CINZANO. Circa 1898. 66 3/4x39 inches. Luigi Simon Detti, Turin. Condition B: restored losses, restoration and overpainting in margins and along vertical and horizontal folds; restoration in image. Two-sheets. Hohenstein spent his whole career with Ricordi the great Italian publishing. He began working there in 1889 designing sheet music covers for operas. Shortly thereafter he became art director of the firm and began to design posters. He had a large influence on the young artists who joined the studio (Metlicovitz, Dudovitch, Cappiello, Laskoff and others) many of whom went on to great fame as poster designer. Considered to be "the 'father of the Italian poster' and a leading proponent of the Italian Art Nouveau movement, known as Stile Liberty<>, Hohenstein utilized dramatic effects of light, space and color to offer a graphic intensity that appealed perfectly to the Italian temperament" (www.internationalposter.com/it-text.cfm). This extremely rare, allegorical image of Pan playing divine music to inspire the growth of grape vines is a perfect example. "Every element, right down to its lettering with its interlocking "o"s, is infused with an irresistible energy" (ibid). This poster is also very rare from the point of view of a Cinzano collectible, as it is unusual to see posters for the company before 1910 when Cappiello created his famous red-and-orange striped Zebra.
