?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 7,000 - $ 10,000
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) ÉTOILE POLAIRE. 1902. 31 1/4x12 inches, 79 1/2x30 1/2 cm. Condition B+: repaired tears, creases and abrasions in margins and image; sharp crease through image; restored pin-holes in corners. The Stars were the last series of decorative panels that Mucha designed for Champenois. As with all of his allegorical series, Mucha symbolizes the heavenly bodies with beautiful women. However, unlike any of his previous work, these galactic allegories appear against a dark background, which adds a sense of mystery to their inherent and expected sex appeal. "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). The only connection between these images and Mucha's previous panels is the 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, Triumph des Jugendstils 99, Lendl 61, Mucha P47, Spirit of Art Nouveau 55d.
