Lefèvre-Utile, Mélange Italien
Lefèvre-Utile, Mélange Italien

Artist: Alphonse Mucha Czech (1860-1939)

Title: Lefèvre-Utile, Mélange Italien

Plate: LU.3

Description: Condition A+
Original label printed by Champenois, Paris, 1901
Each image signed in the stone.
Ref: Art du Biscuit p.94; Lendl/Prague, p.72
Archivally Framed.

Shipped framed boxed flat via Fedex. 
Certificate of Authenticity. 

Frame Size: 16 7/8 in x 19 3/8 in / 43.8 cm x 49.2 cm

Image Size: 8 1/4 in x 10 3/4 in / 21 cm x 26.7 cm

Price: Sold

Please check out all my Alphonse Mucha Posters

"Since this was a boxtop for Italian-style cookies, Mucha gives us a lady playing the mandolin with Venice’s Saint Mark’s Place in the background in the middle (top of box) design and two dark-haired beauties in the side panels, with Rome and Naples in the background." (Rennert)

"Mucha designed several box tops for Lefèvre-Utile biscuits, each consisting of a central design and two back-to-back trademarks, all printed on one sheet. In the individual distinguishing pictures, Mucha depicted fashionable social occasions at which biscuits are being consumed, mostly with wine—otherwise, lush nymphs enjoying the outdoors also suit the purpose. All of the background patterns, ornamental borders, and decorative elements are executed with Mucha’s typical attention to detail. And each of the designs is assigned a specific background color; in the case of this label, he's chosen a jewel-tone azure." (Rennert)

"Mucha’s fame as a poster artist led him to commissions for packaging design. He became a regular artist for Lefèvre-Utile, the major French biscuit company founded in Nantes in 1846. He designed publicity posters and calendars for them and around 1900 Mucha’s task was expanded to packaging design, which included labels, box tops and the decoration of biscuit tins. 

 

For Mucha, packaging design meant the decoration of objects (products) by applying art to their forms in order to enhance their charm and character. Therefore, as he wrote later, he thought that art should serve as a language to the object to be decorated. This idea is demonstrated in the message carried by the biscuit boxes: the moment of happiness and comfort, as illustrated in the insets, as well as the quality of the products, which is enhanced by the box decorated with the borders emphasizing solidity and dignity. Also Mucha produced a ‘brand’ with the use of a consistent font, logo and decorative formula, which linked the packaging with the publicity." (Mucha Foundation.org)