"Le bain des nymphes" - Lithographie originale sur Japon - L'Estampe Moderne

Rare original lithograph, executed by Paul Albert Laurens for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 9 published in January 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with wide margins, wove paper mounted on Japan paper, artist's signature in the plate, publisher's dry stamp depicting a child's profile in the lower margin, numbered stamp of the deluxe printing on verso; engraving preceded by a tissue guard inscribed with the artist's name, title and a poem; blank tissue guard.
Lithograph inspired by the poem Les trophées by José-Maria de Heredia, reproduced on the print's tissue guard.
Magnificent French monthly publication edited between May 1897 and April 1899, L'Estampe moderne consists of original chromolithographs which, unlike other magazines such as Les Maîtres de l'Affiche and as stipulated on the tissue guards, were created specifically by each artist for the magazine. Thus 100 prints appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalists and Belle Époque. Each delivery of four prints was printed in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a confidential deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with wide margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print of handsome format is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: Japan. Thick, silky, satiny and pearlescent, it contributes to making each page a work of art in its own right. Its ink absorption quality and affinity with colors also make it the ideal support for these very beautiful lithographs.
French collectors' interest in artistic posters intensified in the early 1890s. Octave Uzanne, to describe this fever, invented the term "affichomanie". The poster, originally popular and posted in the streets of the capital, then became an art object and its ephemeral medium became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising vocation and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right, on par with the deluxe illustrated book. He thus composed 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, Ibels, Engels, Willette, Henri Meunier, Evenepoël, Bellery-Desfontaines, Charles Léandre, etc.
Handsome copy in the Art Nouveau style.