Artist: Beggarstaff Sir William Nicholson - English (1872-1949) & James Pryde - Scottish (1866-1941)
Title: Corn Flour Kassama
Plate: PL. 232
Original lithograph from "Les Maitres de L'Affiche" series.
Printed by Imprimerie Chaix, Paris, 1900.
From the rare De Luxe edition printed on Japon of only 100 copies
Presented in 16 x 20 in. acid free, archival museum mat, with framing labels. Ready to frame. Shipped boxed flat
Certificate of Authenticity.
Maitre Sheet Size: 11 3/8 in x 15 3/4 29 cm x 40 cm
Price: $400.00 Rare De Luxe edition of 100
Full size sold for $ 17,600 US Poster Auctions International, N.Y. Nov 1992
From the rare De Luxe edition printed on Japon of only 100 copies
A detail from an Original Cover sheet showing the De Luxe pricing which was almost three time higher than the regular edition (Roughly one month's pay for a middle class collector in the1890's). The deluxe edition of 100 on Japon paper was more valuable as the printing was on a higher quality textured paper which gives the images warmer and enhanced colours.
As with all the Beggarstaff's posters, this masterpiece of graphic design, poignantly points out that, less is more. Using a striking combination of colour and silhouette design in perfect harmony, we have an unforgettable image that is remembered forever as "Kassama."
"The girl in the Kassama Corn Flour poster offers a strong contrast to the winsome, smiling maidens (such as Cheret's) encountered in other advertisements for household goods from this period. Depersonalized and distant, she imparts no information and communicates no advice. The girl is drawn in such a way as to allow hair and basket to print the same colour as the background…to make the girl more eye catching; they placed her against a bright yellow background. By surrounding the figure with a wide expanse of unrelieved yellow, they ensured that it would be isolated from adjacent advertisements" (Beggarstaff p.49)