?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 12,000 - $ 18,000
FERNAND TOUSSAINT (1873-1955) LE SILLON. 1895. 40x31 3/4 inches. Rycker, Brussels. Condition B+: paper loss in left margin; repaired tears through margins into image; vertical and horizontal folds. At the turn of the century Brussels was a major center of artistic creativity. Powerful artistic movements and groups, such as Libre Esthetique<>, Pour l'Art<> and Le Sillon<>, all of whom attracted avant garde artists from all over Europe, were based there.Amongst them, Le Sillon<> (the furrow) was an artistic circle of decorative realists. Toussaint, who was primarily a painter, created his first poster for the group and instantly achieved fame in the field. It is easy to see why. The result is a stunning and flamboyant symbolist poster, marvelously executed in warm, soft tones, with gently, though not over exaggerated, Art Nouveau curls. The simple image of a beatific woman, gently pulling aside some flowers which she is about to cut with her scythe, is fertile with meaning. Symbolically it depicts the artist making his own way, "his determination to express himself according to his convictions", it can also be seen as the members of Le Sillon<> clearing away the old style of art in preparation for the new style they are about to sow. The following year Toussaint created a poster for the Café Jacqmotte<> in the same style, and together these two masterpieces have become his legacy. Maitres pl. 80, Masters p. 95, Wine Spectator pl. 94, Weill, p. 57.
