Georges de Feure, Affiches et Estampes Pierrefort. 1898.

Lot description

Georges de Feure 1868-1943 Affiches et Estampes Pierrefort. 1898. Condition A-: minor restoration along vertical fold; hand-signed by the artist in pencil at lower image. Matted and framed. "The woman swathed in deep blue-black is the perfect example of the mysterious creatures that typify de Feure's art at its best. She is both enticing and daunting, inviting and challenging, for, as she holds up a print for the spectator to appraise, it is clear from the look in her eyes that she in turn is appraising the spectator. The poster was created for the [notable Parisian print and poster] dealer Pierrefort . . . Although Pierrefort, unlike other dealers such as Arnould, Kleinmann and Sagot, does not seem to have published a catalogue, he did share their practice of commissioning posters, as this particular work attests. Affiches et Estampes Pierrefort is steeped in Japonisme. As in the woodcut prints which inspired it, the sensation of depth is negated by the use of flat colours and the absence of modelling. The woman's outline, with its sweeping, undulating curves virtually silhouetted against . . . [the] background, is dramatically cut on three sides by the edge of the poster, rendering the composition highly asymmetrical. Her facial expression and rather curious posture of turning away from her raised hands appear to have been inspired by, if not directly borrowed from, Utagawa Kuniyoshi's print of the poetess Ono no Komachi from the series Keny Fujo Kagami. As a final touch, de Feure carries his emulation of the East to the point of monogramming the poster in addition to signing it, employing a similar brick red ink to that often used for the seals on Japanese prints" (de Feure p. 70). This is "the rarest and most expressionistic work by this symbolist painter." (L'Imprimerie p. 61). DFP-II 354, Weill 52, de Feure 64, Wine Spectator p. 89, Gold 35, Art Nouveau p. 117, Maitres 1900 p. 27, L'Imprimerie p. 61.