ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) SAVON MUCHA. Counter-top display screen. 1906.
16 1/4x24 inches, 41 1/4x61 cm.
Condition B+: overpainting, repaired tears and restoration in corners and at edges; restored tear through upper right corner. Printed on card. Framed. Unexamined out of frame.
This exceptional commission was taken on by Mucha in 1906. While lecturing at the Art Institute of Chicago, he was approached by Armour & Company, a meat packing business, to undertake this advertising project. Flatteringly, this product was named after Mucha, and he was asked to design its packaging. Mucha's previous depictions of the four flowers were easily re-imagined to accommodate these perfumed soaps, and here he depicts Lilac, Violet, Sandalwood and Heliotrope. The images are more brightly colored than his earlier flower series, have a distinctly stained-glass look to them, and the allegorical woman are more conservatively-clad, but the designs are almost quintessential Mucha. The images appear on the individual boxes of soap as well as on this counter-top display, which Rennert and Weill believe may also have been "designed by Mucha himself" (Rennert / Weill p. 318). rare. We have found no previous auction records. Lendl p. 261 (var), Rennert / Weill 91, Darmstadt p. 313, Mucha / Henderson 163, Mucha / Bridges G2o, Spirit of Art Nouveau 82.