Posters And Decorative Panels By Art Nouveau Master Alphonse Mucha Led Swann Galleries' Vintage Posters Auction

April 1, 2014

Several of the top lots in Swann Galleries' Feb. 25 auction of vintage posters were dazzling Art Nouveau beauties by Alphonse Mucha, a few of which set new auction records. The highest selling lot in the sale was a set of four elaborate decorative panels by Mucha depicting the “Times of the Day” from 1899, which brought $50,000.
Record-setting works by Mucha were single panels from the “Times of the Day” set, with Eveil du Matin, the “Morning” panel, bringing $35,840 and Reverie du Soir, the “Evening” panel, selling for $23,750; as well as a single sheet with “Three Seasons,” 1898, which sold for $10,625. Also among the Mucha highlights were his “Documents Decoratifs” portfolio with 72 plates, 1902, $27,500; two variants of “Job,” one from 1896 for $22,500, the other from 1898, $11,250; and “The Seasons,” set of four decorative panels, 1896, selling for $18,750.
Additional record setters were Philippe Henri Noyer's effervescent image of mermaids swimming beside a large glass for Limonade Brault, 1938, $6,750, and Mather & Company's sensible warning “Don't Lose Your Head/Handle Your Temper,” with a red background and a disembodied hot head, 1924, selling for $12,500.
On the heels of the 2014 Winter Olympics, there was a lot of interest for Witold Gordon's “III Olympic Winter Games/Lake Placid” from 1932, which sold for $8,125, and other ski posters such as Alex Walter Diggelmann's dynamic “Pontresina,” circa 1930, which sold for $6,750. Emil Cardinaux's view of skiers in Jungfrau Bahn, “Zurich,” 1925, sold for $5,500; Erich Hermes' image of a gentleman resting on the slopes with a cup of coffee and a cigarette advertising “Winter in Switzerland,” 1936, sold for $4,750; and Walter Koch's depiction of ski tracks in the snow for “Zuger-Berg/Wintersport,” circa 1910, sold for $4,250.
Rounding out the sale were other Art Nouveau classics such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's poster for singer “Aristide Bruant/dans son Cabaret,” 1893, selling for $7,500; Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen's “Cocorico,” a magazine of the Art Nouveau era, $5,000; a horizontal-format image by Rene Vincent for “Motorcycles Cottereau,” 1905, selling for $6,750; and American literary posters, among them Maxfield Parrish's “The Century/Midsummer Holiday Number,” 1897, which realized $5,376.
Swann Galleries, Inc., is located at 104 E. 25th St., in New York City.
For further information, visit www.swanngalleries.com.

 

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