?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
HANS RUDI ERDT (1883-1918) MAZEPPA. 1912. 271/2x37 inches. Hollerbaum & Schmidt, Berlin. Condition A-: minor tears in margins; creases in image. Japan. Hans Rudi Erdt was one of the principal poster artists who worked for the Berlin printer Hollerbaum & Schmidt in the gloriously creative years before the First World War, when cigarette companies, distillers, night clubs, music halls and boutiques commissioned an extraordinary number of posters. This brand of cigarettes was named after a real, but highly romanticized, 18th century Cossack Hetman (leader) who led his people in a rebellion against Tsar Peter the Great. An opera by Tchaikovsky, an étude by Franz Liszt and a poem by Lord Byron all bear the name Mazeppa. Erdt's illustration capitalizes on the wild, rugged and exotic appearance that the popular imagination would have assigned to the warrior. He is depicted in a strong and proud way, with his terrifying head-piece, and cigarette held almost arrogantly in his mouth. The smoke rings add a suitable touch of humor. DFP III 822.
