?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) CH. LORILLEUX. 1893. Calendar, with 12 sheets. Each sheet 121/2x10 inches. Boussud, Valadon, Paris. Condition varies, generally A-: water stains and foxing on first sheet; minor loss lower left corner of last sheet. Printed on card. Right after Mucha arrived in Paris, while he was working as a book illustrator, he obtained his first advertising commission for which he produced this extremely rare calendar. While his later, classic style is virtually unrecognizable in this early work, each page is still a tantalizingly complex composition. His illustration style is that of a virtuoso realist, and the way he organizes the space and plays with decorative elements hints at the manner in which he would soon be manipulating these elements in an incomparable fashion. The circles (halos) and decorative borders that would become an integral part of his future design system are already in place. Some of the different months actually feature portraits of the Lorilleux family, who allegedly paid Mucha 2500 francs for the project (no doubt an unheard-of sum to the young artist). Rennert / Weill 1.
