?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
MANUEL ORAZI (1860-1934) THEATRE DE LOIE FULLER. 1900. 77 1/2x24 3/4 inches. Manuel Orazi, Paris. Condition A: horizontal folds. Framed. Orazi was born in Rome, and added his Latin flamboyance to the French Art Nouveau style in both his illustrations and posters. This poster is for Loie Fuller's special theatre at the 1900 Paris World's Fair. One of the major attractions of the fair was the rue de Paris, a 300 meter long "street," where famous concert halls and cabarets (like the Chat Noir and the Grand Guignol) set up mini theatres. One such theatre was the Palais de la Danse, where Loie Fuller had been hired to perform. However, at the last minute the dancer decided to open her own theatre at the fair, and she chose Orazi to design her poster. Her act, "la danse serpentine," involved colored spotlights shining on veils she wore around her body. In 1893, Cheret had captured the magical appearance of her show in a series of posters that had the same image of the dancer, but each poster was a different color. Seven years later Orazi uses the same technique. This extraordinary, elongated image exists in three different color variations. It is without a doubt the most enigmatic poster designed for her, infused with pure, symbolic artistic inspiration. Delicately, yet intricately colored, the image is of the dancer swirling beneath a falling bouquet of roses. As the flowers are caught up in the vortex of her dance, they are transformed into snowflakes, crystals and round decorative motifs. Throughout the image, the gradation of colors is skillfully handled, supporting Maindron's claim that Orazi was "a magnificent lithographer." This mysterious and fascinating image is one of the best and rarest of all the Loie Fuller posters. Masters 1900 p. 43, Abdy p. 62, Weill 55.
