?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 20,000
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
DOCUMENTS DÉCORATIFS. Complete portfolio with 72 plates. 1902.
Each plate approximately 18x13 inches, 45¾x33 cm. Emile Levy, Paris. Condition B+: staining, abrasions and wear to covers and spine; fabric tie removed; small tears, losses and darkening to some plates.
Comprising 72 plates, this portfolio stands as an encyclopedia of Mucha's style, giving examples of his creations in the various fields of decorative arts and explaining his creative process. "It was Mucha's artistic creed. . . it was used for years by many art schools as a textbook and influenced a whole generation of artists" (Rennert/Weill p. 288). Mucha uses the portfolio to show examples of jewelry, furniture and silverware, and illustrates how to draw women and flowers (the two main motifs of Art Nouveau), in all cases brilliantly demonstrating his stylistic prowess. Each of the 72 plates is a masterpiece of Art Nouveau design. Complete copies are rare, since many have been broken up to sell plate by plate. Lendl p. 132-33 no. 105, Mucha L31, Spirit of Art Nouveau 123, Art Nouveau p. 114.
