artigue - albine Albert-Émile ARTIGUE - 1900s

'lbine' - Original lithograph on Japan - L'Estampe Moderne
Albert-Émile ARTIGUE
Edited by Imprimerie Champenois for CH. Masson H. Piazza, 1898
Champenois printing for CH. Masson H. Piazza | Paris (February 1898) | 31 x 27 cm | one sheet and a serpente | Rare original color-printed lithograph, executed by Albert-Émile Artigue for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 10 published in February 1898. One of 50 luxury proofs printed on Japon with wide margins, artist’s signature on the plate, blind stamp of the publisher depicting a child's profile in the lower margin, numbered stamp of the luxury edition on the back; engraving preceded by a serpente inscribed with the artist’s name, the title, and an excerpt from the work; blank serpente. The lithograph is inspired by an excerpt from Emile Zola's novel, La Faute de l'abbé Mouret, reproduced on the serpente of the print. A magnificent French monthly publication issued between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe Moderne consists of unpublished chromolithographs which, unlike other reviews such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stated on the serpentes, were specially created by each artist for the magazine. A total of 100 prints were published, covering major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists, and Belle Époque. Each issue of four prints was limited to 2000 copies sold at 3.50F, with 100 on Japanese paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a very exclusive limited edition: 50 copies on Japon with wide margins and 50 in black on Chine at a considerable price of 30F. This print, of a beautiful format, is superbly printed on the most prestigious paper: Japon. Thick, silky, satin, and nacreous, it makes each page a work in its own right. Its ink absorption quality and affinity with colors make it the ideal support for these beautiful lithographs. French collectors' interest in artistic posters grew in the early 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to describe this fever, coined the term 'affichomania.' Originally popular and pasted on the streets of the capital, posters became objects of art, and their ephemeral support became precious and meant for preservation. Piazza decided to detach the poster from its advertising purpose and elevate it to the status of a true work of art, on par with luxury illustrated books. He thus assembled a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most prominent European artists of the moment: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Emile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, and Ib.