L’Estampe Moderne – 0501

• Work: L’Estampe Moderne
• Date: 1897-1899
• Condition of Plate: Excellent. The extreme right margin is lightly toned. There is also negligible handling at the top edge that would mat out easily.
• Condition of Work: Excellent
• Paper Size: ~12″ by 16″
• Image Size: ~9.375″ by 13.25″

L’Estampe Moderne

These brightly colored lithographed posters are from L’Estampe Moderne published by one of the best printers of the day, Champenois. They were printed under the supervision of C. Masson and H. Piazza. The work was published in Paris between May 1897 and April 1899. The work was sent out every month with four prints and a cover with art work by Alphonse Mucha. The work was sent out only to subscribers. The intention of this work was to “reanimate and disseminate the taste for prints” (issue 24), thus 2000 of each print were published plus 100 on Japan paper.

This famous collection included works by major Art Nouveau artists including Alphonse Mucha, Louis Rhead, Marcel Lenoir, Henri Boutet, Henri Fantin-Latour, Edward Burne-Jones, and Théophile Steinlen. Every print has the blind stamp of a woman’s profile in the bottom right corner. The large format lithographs are on excellent quality paper that measures 12″ by 16″. The lithographs were done by the artists, rather than after, which makes the plates original Art Nouveau.