"Invocation à la madone d'onyx vert" - Lithographie originale sur Japon - L'Estampe Moderne

Rare original lithograph in colors, executed by Marcel Lenoir for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 3 published in July 1897.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with large margins, artist's signature in the plate, publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin, numbered stamp of the deluxe edition on verso; print preceded by a tissue guard inscribed with the artist's name, title and presentation of the artist; and another blank 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 specially created 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 Epoque. Each delivery of four prints was issued in 2000 copies sold for 3.50F and 100 on Japan paper offered at 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a very limited deluxe printing: 50 copies on Japan paper with large margins and 50 in black on China paper at the considerable price of 30F.
This print in a handsome format is superbly printed in colors on the most prestigious of papers: Japan paper. Thick, silky, satined and pearlescent, it contributes to making each page a work 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 support became precious and destined for preservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising vocation and elevate it to the rank of a complete work of art on the same level as 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 artist's Art Nouveau style.