?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000
MANUEL ORAZI (1860-1934) L'HIPPODROME. 1905. 23 1/2x15 1/2 inches, 59 3/4x39 1/2 cm. Société d'Impressions d'Art Industriel, Paris. Condition A-: minor tears and creases in margins; loss in lower left corner; time-staining in margins and image. Matted and framed. In anticipation of the Exposition Universelle in 1900, the Hippodrome opened in 1899 on the Boulevard de Clichy. It was a beautiful, gigantic hall, with seating for up to 5,000 spectators as well as its own stables. It was the place to stage and to watch great equine spectacles in Paris. Orazi was born in Rome, received his artistic training at the famed Italian printing house of Ricordi, and then moved to Paris where he achieved instant success by participating in the second exhibition at Siegfried Bing's gallery L'Art Nouveau. In his flamboyant style he designed some of the most remarkable Art Nouveau posters such as La Maison Moderne, Theatre de Loie Fuller and this image for a horse-mounted spectacle. As Orazi's work always incorporated elements of Roman and Byzantine design, this commission must have felt custom-made for him, as he could let his ornamental creativity run freely. Indeed, the ornamentation on the central figure is something to behold. Curiously, though he depicts the beautiful ceiling of the Hippodrome, Orazi also depicts the entire arena empty of viewers. DFP-II 676a, Wine Spectator 92, Circus 30.
