?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) [MORNING STAR.] 1902. 18 1/4x7 1/4 inches. [F. Champenois, Paris.] Condition B+: calender insert cut into image; grommets in top margin; printed on board. The Stars were the last series of decorative panels that Mucha designed for Champenois. The four images, (the Morning Star, the Evening Star, Moonlight and the North Star) are, characteristically, symbolized by beautiful women. However, unlike any of his previous work, these galactic allegories appear against a dark background. In addition to their inherent, and expected, sex appeal, they are also mysterious. "Note the subtle shadings conveying the idea of indirect lighting, which permeate each scene with a strange mystic quality, haunting and mysterious, unique in Mucha's works" (Rennert/Weill p. 297). Even more subtle, within this piece, the top of the poster is dark and at the bottom, the coming dawn is suggested by a lightening of the tones. The only connection between this work and Mucha's previous panels is the highly elaborate, decorative floral border. Otherwise this is a totally new vision for Mucha, announcing the end of the light-hearted Parisian sensuality that dominated his work and presaging the more mystical imagery to come. Rennert/Weill 82.
![ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) [MORNING STAR.] 1902. 18x7 inches. [F. Champenois, Paris.]](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//402\574402.jpg)
