?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
L. KOWALSKY (DATES UNKOWN) BI-BORAX ORIENTAL. 1898. 33x25 inches. Condition A. At the peak of the poster craze in the mid-1890s, poster contests were very much in vogue.One of the most famous, The Century Magazine, was sponsored by an exhibition in 1897. The French newspaper L'Eclair organized a contest that same year (see lot 44). In each case a prestigious jury was assembled. In 1898 a new twist was added. Bi-Borax, a cleaning powder, decided that for their competition a jury would pre-select eight images, be printed on a giant poster and displayed around Paris for the public to decide upon a winner. (The images were also printed in magazines, asking readers "which is the best poster?" and promising everyone who responded before the end of May 1898, a sample of the product and an illustrated brochure!) Collectors rushed to obtain the billboards and cut them into 8 separate posters. Thus when they appear on the market, the images do not have margins, nor do they bear printer's imprints. Of the eight 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 been familiar with Grasset's work. The charming image is pure French Art Nouveau.
