May 19, 2022 - Sale 2605

Sale 2605 - Lot 2

Price Realized: $ 2,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

CLAUDE FAYETTE BRAGDON (1866-1946)

THE CHAP BOOK. Circa 1895.


21 1/4x13 1/2 inches, 54x34 1/4 cm. Stone & Kimball, Chicago.
Condition A-: small repaired tears and minor creases at edges; paper insert in lower text.

Bragdon, like many of the early Art Nouveau artists, was trained as an architect, but worked in all the fields of decorative arts. In all, he designed three posters for the Chap Book magazine, this being the last. Whereas Bragdon's first two posters are very turn-of-the-century in style, this one clearly heralds a new era in design, presaging Art Deco by almost 30 years. Although copies of this poster can be found in the Library of Congress and the University of Rochester library, it scarcely appears at auction and never with such strong, original color. Rare. DFP-I 184, Reims 1152, Bragdon fig. 29, Margolin p. 112, not in Kiehl.