?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 20,000 - $ 30,000
ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939) CYCLES PERFECTA. 1897. 56 x 40 inches. Champenois. Condition B+: restored loses and over painting in margins and image; vertical and horizontal folds. Matted and framed. This is Mucha's most graphic poster, relying less on his eye-catching decorative elements and more on composition and layout. No unnecessary decorative details have been added. Mucha employs only a few colors and his palette includes a very unusual use of the white of the paper. It is a great poster and the master was inspired. He may never have designed hair in such a flamboyant, exaggerated way ("Mucha finally had a perfect subject that justified hair in motion and he took full advantage of it" Rennert/Weill p. 294). The simple vision of this woman quietly leaning on a bicycle handlebar with a wistful look in her eye and her hair in tempest of liberation, done in warm tones, results in a peaceful and powerful gem of commercial art. Rennert/ Weill, 81, Mucha, A27, Weill, p. 41.
