?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
EUGÈNE GRASSET (1845-1917) [LA VITRIOLEUSE.] 1893. 24x17 1/4 inches, 61x43 3/4 cm. Condition A-: minor tears, abrasions and staining at edges; hinged to mat in left corners; hand-signed and numbered 94 by the artist in pencil, with the publisher's blindstamp in lower left corner. Paper. This original lithograph is from an edition of 100 that was printed for L'Estampe Originale by André Marty. It "is an extraordinary [lithograph]. Hand-colored by the pochoir stencil process in 5 colors . . .Vitrioleuse is the most accomplished example of Japonisme in Grasset's work. Directly inspired by the actor woodblock prints of Toyokoni and more particularly Sharaku" (Arwas p. 64-65). Thematically it is often considered one of a pair of images, the other being La Morphinomane. However, the other image wasn't printed until 1897, when it was produced for the Album Vollard. Here, a woman with a cup of poison is so angry she is ready to throw it into someone's face; her countenance - sickly and frightening - is as disturbingly colorful as the poison in her bowl. In the other, a drug addict is injecting herself. Both images share a morbid and bizarre theme that seems ill-suited to a fine Art Nouveau print, yet, terrifying images aside, it is a pure Art Nouveau masterpiece, composed of sophisticated flat tones and bold outlining. Arwas p. 64-65, Murray-Robertson p. 127.
![EUGÈNE GRASSET (1845-1917). [LA VITRIOLEUSE.] 1893. 24x17 inches, 61x43 cm.](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//755\699755.jpg)
