?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 6,000 - $ 9,000
ALPHONSE MUCHA SPRING. 1900. 28x12 inches. Condition A. Card. Over the course of their career together it seems that Mucha and Champenois kept trying to create marketable images that could be presented (and sold) to the public in sets of either two, or ideally, four images. In 1896, they came up with the idea of The Four Season, for which Mucha created four panels that are undoubtedly among the most inspired and gracious of his career. The public agreed, greeting the panels so enthusiastically that Champenois had Mucha design another four seasons the following year, 1897. After Champenois had Mucha work on The Precious Stones and before he began designing The Stars, he called for a third series of The Four Seasons, which Mucha created in 1900. Given his prodigious output in the face of such commercial demand, it is exceptional that Mucha was able maintain his unique artistic vision. In this last version, one can see Mucha's evolution as an artist in four years. Here it is the master who has built a graphic system that he put forth in Documents Decoratifs (see lot 98) in which he draws more balanced images with full control of the outline. Rennert / Weill 74.
