?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 18,000 - $ 22,000
VI SLET VSESOKOLSKY & LIDE CESKY! 1912. Two posters. Each approximately 66 3/4x32 1/2 inches. V.Neubert, Schmchov. Condition B+: restored losses, restoration and overpainting in top margin; restored losses along vertical and horizontal folds; restoration in bottom corners and margins. Two sheets. After his dizzying success in Paris and a sojourn in the United States, Mucha moved back to his native Czechoslovakia, where he was a respected painter and a patriot who dedicated himself to his major painting project: The Slav Epic. He created very few commercial advertisements during this period but still did posters for patriotic events and causes. Interestingly from this time on he mainly uses children in his graphic work as opposed to the recognizable, extravagantly rendered Art Nouveau women who inhabited his early posters. This poster was for the 6th Sokol rally, held in Prague by the Czech and other Slavic Sokol organizations. The Sokol movement was founded in 1862 (in what is now the Czech Republic) on the principles that physical fitness was an important part of a persons well-being. Sokol members would gather every four years at massive Slets (assemblies) to perform physical drills and gymnastics to which the public was always invited. Not only important for exercise, the Sokol movement was also a hot bed for nationalist development. Like most of Mucha's Czech posters this one, too, is loaded with symbolism: The young girl is wearing a crown reminiscent of the ramparts of old Slavic fortifications, to remind people that despite the seeming youth of the Slavic national movements, their purpose is deeply rooted in history. The combinations of red and light colors used on the girl's cloak symbolize the Slavic colors, as well as the colors of the Czech national flag. "Her arm is encircled with a garland woven from the leaves of the symbolic Czech linden tree" (Spirit p. 36) These garlands represent the Slavic nations, which despite geographical and physical differences are forever united in their common struggle for national self determination. Behind her is mighty Slavia<> reaching out from the darkness of the past, holding a falcon (in Czech the word for falcon is Sokol) in one hand and a symbol of the undivided slavs being reunited in the other. Rare and spectacular. Rennert/Weill 77, Mucha, A61, Spirit cover and p. 36.
The never before seen text banner (not so much a banner as an entire poster) is an amazing, flourishy, folkloric-style explanation of the upcoming event, couched in the most patriotic and uplifting phrases. To promote this event on the 50th anniversary of the first Sokol meeting, the text traces the origins and reasons behind the Sokol Movement, from its dignified beginnings to its glorious, present day (1912) status. It also announces and welcomes the participation of other Slavic National Sokol Organizations who will be participating in the event. Although not signed by Mucha, the distinctive Art Nouveau typography shows all of his handiwork and is reminiscent of the (smaller) text banners he created for other Czech posters. A complete translation is available upon request. Not in Rennert / Weill, not in Mucha.
