MEUNIER, Henri (1873-1922) – „Rajah“. Paris, 1899. Size: ca. 39 x 30 cm.

 Original first edition lithograph out of „Les Maitres de l’Affiche“ from 1899. With the blind embossed stamp designed by J. Cheret. – in good condition.

„Les Maitres de l’Affiche“ was published by Imprimerie Chaix, under the direction of Jules Cheret between the years 1896 and 1900, as a monthly subscription. It features designs by artists such as: Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Theophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Bonnard, Forain, Eugene Grasset, Georges Meunier, Louis Rhead, Dudley Hardy, etc. Special issues included plates with original designes by renowed artists. Among the most sought-after posters from the series are „Job“ by A. Mucha – which helped establish Mucha as a creator of beautiful Art Nouveau popular images, and has been used widely all over the world, in various variants – and „Moulin Rouge“ by Toulouse Lautrec. With more than one thousand poster designs, Jules Cheret was considered the father of poster art. Many of the posters from „Les Maitres de l’Affiche“ have been designed by Charet himself. In 1866, he opened his own print shop in Paris and from 1881 on, he operated as part of the Chaix Imprimerie which published „Les Maitres de l’Affiche“. This work was created during „ La Belle Epoque“ in France, a great time for advertising and part of the French „ Great Poster Movement“ which started at the end of the 19th century. At that time, the streets of all large cities in the world were full of large-format, colorful, lively poster images. Advertising posters began to be regarded as works of art, and published as fine prints. Imprimerie Chaix played a great part in popularizing poster designs, as well as in keeping record of the artistic movement as a whole.

EUR 1.500,-