Pierre PUVIS DE CHAVANNES

One of 100 copies of the magazine printed on China paper for issues 1 to 11. The specimen issue and no. 12 are on laid paper. Our copy is complete with the spine and covers of the general binding, and the twelve illustrated covers.
First edition of the complete collection of L'image, published between 1896 and 1897.
All issues of the magazine are bound together under a half sheep binding with corners, spine with five raised bands titled in gilt, marbled paper boards. Some rubbing.
Scattered foxing and marginal tears.
Complete copy of this magazine founded by the young French corporation of wood engravers, and published by the publisher of Toulouse-Lautrec's lithographs (Au pied du Sinaï, Histoires naturelles, Café-Concert).

Rare original lithograph in crayon manner, executed by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes for L’Estampe Moderne, dated 1 August 1869, from series no. 12 issued in April 1898.

One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on japon paper with wide margins, on vellum laid down on japon paper, signed and dated in the plate, with the publisher’s blindstamp of a child’s profile in the lower margin, and numbered stamp of the deluxe issue on verso. A faint dark stain to one corner, with slight offsetting of the preceding plate. Preceded by a tissue guard bearing the artist’s name, title, an excerpt of text, and a short presentation of the engraving; with an additional blank tissue guard.

Lithograph inspired by an excerpt from Armand Dayot, reproduced on the tissue guard of the print.

Magnificent French monthly publication issued between May 1897 and April 1899, L’Estampe Moderne consists of original chromolithographs which, unlike other journals such as Les Maîtres de l’Affiche and as stated on the tissue guards, were created expressly for the magazine by each artist.

A total of 100 prints were issued, reflecting the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, the Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalism and the Belle Époque. Each instalment of four prints was published in 2,000 copies priced at 3.50 francs, with 100 on japon paper offered at 10 francs. Henri Piazza also planned an extremely limited de luxe printing: 50 copies on large-margined japon and 50 in black on china paper at the considerable price of 30 francs.

This large-format plate is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: japon. Thick, silky, satiny and pearly, it makes each sheet a work in its own right. Its ink absorption and affinity with colour also make it the ideal support for these magnificent lithographs.

French collectors’ enthusiasm for artistic posters increased in the early 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to describe this fervour, coined the term affichomanie. The poster, originally popular and pasted in the streets of Paris, was elevated to the status of art object, its ephemeral medium transformed into something precious and destined for preservation.

Piazza’s ambition was to detach the poster from its advertising function and raise it to the rank of an art form in its own right, on a par with the luxury illustrated book. He thus composed a prestigious collection of entirely original works by the most celebrated European artists of the day: Georges de Feure, Eugène Grasset, Henri Detouche, Émile Berchmans, Louis Rhead, Gaston de Latenay, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Gustave-Max Stevens, Charles Doudelet, Hans Christiansen, Henri Fantin-Latour, Steinlen, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, and others.

A fine example in the artist’s Symbolist manner.

Autograph letter card signed by the painter Pierre Puvis de Chavannes to the engraver Emile Boilvin.
The painter addresses a resigning member of the Société nationale des beaux-arts, which Puvis de Chavannes had founded and was in charge of the Salon du Champ de Mars, a dissident event from the official Salon des artistes français: "Cher Monsieur Boilvin, c'est avec le plus vif regret que je vous vois vous séparer d'une société où vous ne comptiez que des admirateurs et des amis. Qu'il soit fait selon votre désir, mais encore une fois, votre démission nous cause à tous un réel chagrin. Cordialement, P. Puvis de Chavannes" ["Dear Mr. Boilvin, it is with the deepest regret that I see you parting from a society where you had only admirers and friends. Let it be as you wish, but once again, your resignation causes us all genuine sorrow. Sincerely, P. Puvis de Chavannes"]