THÉOPHILE VAN RYSSELBERGHE (1862-1926) LA LIBRE ESTHÉTIQUE. 1896. 37 3/4x27 inches, 96x68 1/2 cm. Monom, Brussels. Condition B / B+: restored losses at edges; repaired tears and sharp creases in margins and image and along vertical and horizontal folds. Paper. Matted and framed. Unexamined out of frame. As a painter, van Rysselberghe was best known as a Neo-Impressionist. A founding member in 1883 of the influential art group Les XX (Les Vingt, "The Twenty"), he is considered one of the more important Belgian painters of the period. When Les XX dissolved in 1893, it transformed into another group called La Libre Esthétique, with which van Rysselberghe was also very active. "Van Rysselberghe exerted a positive force for the revitalization of the decorative arts at the turn of the century, but his posters are not numerous; those he created for La Libre Esthétique are unquestionably the finest. The elegant female figures of his posters, very knowingly placed on the page, seem to be the pretext for van Rysselberghe to balance large spots of red-orange against their greenish or bluish complementaries. The text is beautifully drawn and gracefully integrated into the design of the poster" (Belle Epoque p. 86). He designed two posters for the group. Wember 694, Belle Epoque p. 86, L'Affiche Belge p. 96, Weill 84, Maitres 1900 p. 94, DFP-II 1126.
