GEORGES DE FEURE (1868-1943) LITHOGRAPHIES ORIGINALES. 1896. 24 3/4x18 inches, 63x45 3/4 cm. Condition B+: restored losses and overpainting in margins; repaired tears at edges, some affecting image; restoration in image; pin holes in corners. Mounted on Japan. De Feure is admired and collected for his mysterious, symbolic, decadent representations of women. In assessing his early watercolors and paintings, Maindron, in L'Affiche Française, described them as "elegant, graceful, slightly melancholic," and he admired "the great harmony of colors" that he considered the epitome of "modernity and distinction." At the same time, in reference to de Feure's early posters, Maindron notes that they are "among the most remarkable in the past years [with a] variety and richness of tones." Here, he represents a supremely elegant woman of fascinating beauty who is deeply engrossed in her admiration for the cover of the album of lithographs being advertised. The image was overprinted in two different variations advertising two separate albums of original prints, with the text in each appearing on the back of the blank sheet being held by the woman. The exquisite Art Nouveau image is also self-referential, as de Feure designed the cover of the album itself, and his signature on the poster appears as his signature in the lithographic stone at the woman's elbow. This is the version before text. De Feure p. 75 (var), DFP-II 355, Wine Spectator 88.
