"Manon" - Lithographie originale sur Japon - L'Estampe Moderne

Rare original lithograph printed in the manner of three crayons, executed by René-Xavier Prinet for L'Estampe Moderne, series number 10 published in February 1898.
One of 50 deluxe proofs printed on Japan paper with wide margins, laid paper mounted on Japan paper, signed by the artist and dated in the plate, publisher's dry stamp representing a child's profile in the lower margin, numbered luxury edition stamp on the verso; engraving preceded by a tissue guard captioned with the artist's name, the title and an extract from a work; blank tissue guard.
Lithograph inspired by a text by Edmond & Jules de Goncourt, La Femme au XVIIIe siècle, an extract of which is 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 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 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 paper. Thick, silky, satiny and pearlescent, it contributes to making each page a work in its own right. Its quality of ink absorption and its affinity with colors also make it the ideal medium for these very beautiful lithographs.
French collectors' interest in artistic posters intensified at the beginning of the 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 purpose 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.