?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
SEM (GEORGES GOURSAT) (1863-1934) COLETTE WILLY. 46 1/2x31 inches. Publicite Wall, Paris. Condition A-: minor restoration in corners and on edges; unobtrusive vertical and horizontal folds, Trained in Bordeaux and Marseilles, Sem arrived in Paris in 1900 and enjoyed pretty much the same instant success as Cappiello. No wonder; Sem's synthetic style was very similar to that of Cappiello's. For 30 years he spent his time alternately at the race track, Maxim's, Deauville and Monte Carlo, sketching everyone he could lay his eyes on and he rapidly became the most famous, and feared, caricaturist in tout Paris<>. There was a brief time during his career when he also designed posters, and they are all outstanding examples of contemporary graphic design. Here, using orange and white, Sem has designed one of the purest and most elegant images of his era. Colette (1873-1954) was an actress and an entertainer who married Willy, a popular author of easy-reading literature. Willy was renowned for employing various people to write for him, including his wife, who invented a character, Claudine, who became a big success. (see lot 32). When they divorced, Colette dedicated herself to literature and was elected as a member of the Goncourt academy. Sem p. 2.
