?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
LEOPOLDO METLICOVITZ (1868-1944) EXPOSITION INTERNATIONALE MILAN. 1906. 38 1/2x26 inches. G. Ricordi & Cie., Milan. Condition A: vertical and horizontal folds. Framed. As a student under the inimitable Hohenstein at the Ricordi Studios, Metlicovitz quickly became a master of graphic design in his own right. He was one of the most versatile poster artists and could change his style from tender Art Nouveau imagery to statuesque allegory. When the Simplon tunnel opened in 1906, it provided the first direct rail link between Northern Europe and Italy. This poster won a competition organized to announce the opening of the tunnel. It is an allegorical image in high Liberty style, of which Metlicovitz was a master, of Mercury (the God of Commerce), riding on the fender of a train emerging from the darkness of the tunnel into the wide open Italian countryside, with Milan in the distance. The poster exists in two sizes, of which this is the smaller format, and also exists in Italian. Manifesto 39 (var), Weill 141, Maitres 1900 p. 131.
