ARMAND RASSENFOSSE (1862-1934) VICTORIA DATE VINEGAR. 1897. 37 3/4x26 inches. Benard, Liege. Condition B: restoration along vertical and horizontal folds and in image; restoration in margins; foxing in margins and image. Around the turn-of-the-century, when Rassenfosse started working in Liege, where Emil Berchmanns and Auguste Donnay were already working for the printer Benard, the Belgian city became a major center of graphic creativity. Until he was thirty Rassenfosse worked with his parents in their shop selling Oriental wares. It was a meeting with Felicien Rops which set him on the road to becoming an engraver and lithographer. He eventually exhibited at la Libre Esthétique<> in Brussels and the Salon des Cent<> in Paris. His posters are all of high standard. This one shows a female clown juggling a bottle. Rassenfosse had previously used a clowness for the Carnival of Liege in 1895. His artistic style here is close to that of Ibels, but the drawing and outlining are far more delicate. Only four colors were used in this extremely rare poster. Belgium p. 86.
