?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
L. KOWALSKY (DATES UNKOWN) BI - BORAX ORIENTAL. 1898. 34 1/4x26 3/4 inches, 79 1/2x68 cm. Condition B+: replaced losses in margins and upper text; repaired tears at edges; repaired pin holes in corners; ink stamp in lower right corner. Bi-Borax, a cleaning powder company, decided that for their poster design competition, a jury would pre-select eight images to be printed on a giant poster and displayed around Paris for the public to decide upon a winner. Collectors rushed to obtain the billboards and cut them into eight separate posters. Of the artists whose work was chosen to be in the Bi-Borax competition, only two (Detouche and Poulbot) ever made lasting names for themselves. The patterns in Kowalsky's design suggest that he might have studied at Grasset's school or certainly was familiar with the artist's work. Art Nouveau p. 37 (var).
