Artist: Alphonse Mucha Czech (1860-1939)
Title: Art et Decoration
Plate: DD.57
Original Lithograph, Plate 57 from "Documents Decoratifs", published by Librairie Centrale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, 1902.
Signed in the plate lower right
Ref: Rennert/Weill, A.7 p. 389, Lendl p.132-33 no.105, Grand Palais no 281-297.
Presented in 16 x 20 in. acid free, archival museum mat, with framing labels. Ready to frame. Shipped boxed flat .
Certificate of Authenticity.
Image Size: 9 3/8 in x 14 1/4 in 23.8 cm x 36.2 cm
Sheet Size: 12 1/2 in x 17 3/4 in 31.75 cm x 45 cm
Price: $2150.00
Art et décoration was a monthly magazine of French decoration created in 1897 and dedicated to the original decorative arts and new trends (art nouveau, art deco, etc.).
‘Documents Decoratifs’ epitomizes Mucha’s technical skills and expertise in capturing the organic and curvilinear style characteristic of Art Nouveau.
"Documents Décoratifs, published in 1902 by the Libraire Centrale des Beaux-Arts (72 original colour lithograph plates where included), was Mucha's artistic creed, that authoritatively set down the precepts of Art Nouveau and it's decorative elements…it influenced a whole generation of artists..." (Rennert/Weill)
Cover of Documents Décoratifs
"More and more frequently, I was asked to design all sorts of objects in every type of material from wood, gold and ceramics to paper and tapestry. It was impossible to meet all these requests so I decided to publish a special work (Documents decoratifs) containing decorative elements and items where these elements could be used so that everybody would find what he wanted ready made…Of course I imagined quite wrongly that now I would be left in peace. Not at all, I started getting even more requests from people who wanted jewelry or some other things that the other's hadn't got" (Jiri Mucha pp.137-38)
"[Documents Décoratifs is] . . . an encyclopedic source for Mucha's style in every branch of decorative and applied art and one of the few books on design where even individual plates are sought after by collectors." — Marina Henderson, The Graphic Style of Alphonse Mucha