PRIVAT LIVEMONT (1861-1936) RAJAH. 1900.
118 1/2x44 inches, 301x111 3/4. Rycker & Mendel, Bruxelles.
Condition B: recreated text at top; creases and abrasions in image; repaired tears through bottom margin. Two-sheets. Framed.
It is extremely unusual for a poster by one of the signature Art Nouveau artists to lack bibliographical references, but this exceptional, monumental image by Privat Livemont is virtually unrecorded. It is certainly one of only a very small number in existence. We could only locate a single reference to this image, in The Poster magazine from December 1900, where it is reproduced in black and white. Its rarity can be understood in the context that it has never been included in any exhibition or bibliography on the artist, and has only appeared at auction once in the last 30 years. Writing about the poster (which is pictured in The Poster magazine with text in Dutch), Edgar Wenlock, a British art critic, wrote that Belgian artists, Livemont in particular, "knew how to obtain a maximum of effect at a minimum outlay . . . they attract attention by splendour of colour . . . on no hoarding could his huge poster for 'Rajah Teas and Coffees' be overlooked. The whole forms a glowing and insistent mass of colour" (The Poster, December 1900, p. 143ff). It is a classic Livemont image and a scarce Art Nouveau gem. extremely rare
The Poster, December 1900, p. 142.