?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) EXPOSITION DE ST. LOUIS. 1903. 39 1/2x30 inches. F. Champenois, Paris. Condition A-: restored loss in right margin; repaired tear in right margin; lable affixed to image. Framed. "In 1904, at the age of forty-four, Alphonse Mucha left Paris for the first of his many sojourns to the United States, determined to make a profound change in his career. He planned to dissociate himself from the decorative design that had made him famous and, in a new country, earn a reputation as a portrait painter " (Spirit of Art Nouveau p. 30). In many ways this poster can be seen as a farewell to his Parisian years and his well-developed, world-renowned style. Within a halo Mucha depicts one of his inimitable maidens, here shown hand-in-hand with a Native American. Mucha evokes the American flag with an overall design element featuring stars, and even includes red and white stripes, visible behind the Indian's headdress. He also includes a lot of other symbolism, including images from science and industry, which were the theme of the Fair, and two South American masks on either side of the title. To incorporate all of the text that was needed, Mucha included a large space at the bottom. Two different text variants have been identified. This copy bears an additional text banner. This not only shows that the poster was used in Belgium as well as France, but also implies that the poster must have been printed with the text area left empty, so that similar banners could be included in different parts of the world. Rennert/Weill 87 (var), Spirit of Art Nouveau 30 (var) DFP-II 650 (var).
