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

Rare original lithograph printed in colour, by Louis John Rhead for L'Estampe Moderne, “Deuxième prime gratuite réservée aux abonnés d'un an de L'Estampe Moderne” [Second free gift reserved for the annual subscribers to L'Estampe Moderne].
One of the 50 grand luxe proofs printed on Japon paper with wide margins, artist's signature and date in the plate, publisher's embossed stamp showing a child's profile on the lower margin, a numbered stamp of the tirage de luxe on the back; engraving preceded by a protective tissue guard with the name of the artist, the title and a poem; as well as a blank protective tissue guard.
Lithograph inspired by a poem extract from Leconte de Lisle's Chansons écossaises printed as a caption on the print's protective tissue guard.

A magnificent monthly French publication published between May 1897 and April 1899, "L'Estampe moderne" included unpublished chromolithographs which, unlike other magazine such as "Les Maîtres de l'Affiche" and as is stipulated on the protective tissue guard, were specially made for the magazine by each artist. There are thus 100 prints that appeared in total, covering the major artistic movements of the late 19th century: Symbolism, Art Nouveau, the Pre-Raphaelites, Orientalism and the Belle Epoque. Each delivery of four prints had 2000 copies and sold for 3.50F, with 100 copies on Japon offered for 10F. Henri Piazza also planned a high-luxury confidential print: 50 copies with wide margins on Japon and 50 in black and white at the considerable price of 30F.
This beautifully-sized print is superbly printed on the most prestigious of papers: Japon. Thick, silky, satin and pearly, the paper helps to make each page an artwork in its own right. Its ink absorption quality and its affinity with colours also make it the ideal medium for these beautiful lithographs.
French collectors' interest in artistic posters grew from the beginning of the 1890s. Octave Uzanne invented the term “affichomanie” “poster-mania” for this growing interest. The poster, originally common-place and plastered across the streets of the capital, then became an object of art and its ephemeral medium then became precious and dedicated to conservation.
Piazza decided to remove the poster from its advertising role and elevate it to the rank of a work of art in its own right, in the same way as the luxury illustrated book. He assembled and printed a prestigious collection of entirely original works, by the most well-known European artists of the time: 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.
A beautiful copy in an Art Nouveau style.