GEORGES DE FEURE (1868-1943) [PROFIL DE FEMME.] 1898.
22 3/4x16 1/4 inches, 57 3/4x41 1/4 cm.
Condition A: minor staining in margins. Hand-signed by the artist in pencil. Matted and framed. Unexamined out of frame.
De Feure was one of the masters of Art Nouveau, with his own morbid and decadent interpretation of the style. In the mid-1890s, he created a singular female character that began to inhabit all of his posters. Although she was acclaimed by Maindron as "elegant, graceful, [and] slightly melancholic," she also appears solitary and vaguely sinister, as if she were scheming. Here, similar to the print he designed for L'Estampe Moderne in 1897, he leaves his pale-faced woman behind and instead shows a charming young maiden amongst flowers. The only extravagance is her jewelry, made in the style of work he created for the Maison Moderne. The series of three macabre remarques at bottom speaks to De Feure's fertile imagination and recalls his melancholic sensibilities. A similar de Feure image is depicted in Figaro Ilustré from February, 1900. Although not numbered, this scarce print was certainly printed in a very small run. De Feure p. 146.