Feb 18, 2021 - Sale 2558

Sale 2558 - Lot 70

Price Realized: $ 17,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 15,000 - $ 20,000

VARIOUS ARTISTS

L'ESTAMPE MODERNE. Complete set of 100 plates in 24 fasicles. 1897-1899.


Sizes vary, each approximately 16x12 inches, 40x30 cm. F. Champenois, Paris.
Condition A / A-: minor wear to some edges. Loose as issued, with tissue overlay imprinted with a contemporary literary or poetic extract for each image. In a period portfolio cover with marble paper and gold-tooled title to cloth spine and ties.

L'Estampe Moderne was published between May 1897 and April 1899. As with Les Maitres de l'Affiche, every month, four prints were issued to subscribers, delivered in a portfolio sleeve designed by Mucha. In all, there were 100 images. However, as the name implies, these were not posters but prints, designed by many of the popular artists of the day. The technical and editorial team responsible for publishing the works was among the best of its day: the printer was Champenois, and the directors were Charles Piazza (who published Mucha's Ilsée and Le Pater), and Charles Masson, the director of the Musée du Luxembourg. The print run was limited to 2000 copies, with an additional 100 printed on Japan paper. Although all of the prints were designed especially for this portfolio, different printing techniques were used, as some are lithographs and some are collotypes.