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ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
199
●
SAVON MUCHA. Counter-top display screen. 1906.
16
1
/
4
x24 inches, 41
1
/
4
x61 cm.
Condition B+: overpainting, repaired tears and restoration in corners and at edges; restored tear through
upper right corner. Printed on card. Framed. Unexamined out of frame.
This exceptional commission was taken on by Mucha in 1906. While lecturing at the Art Institute of
Chicago, he was approached by Armour & Company, a meat packing business, to undertake this
advertising project. Flatteringly, this product was named after Mucha, and he was asked to design its
packaging. Mucha’s previous depictions of the four flowers were easily re-imagined to accommodate
these perfumed soaps, and here he depicts Lilac, Violet, Sandalwood and Heliotrope. The images are
more brightly colored than his earlier flower series, have a distinctly stained-glass look to them, and
the allegorical woman are more conservatively-clad, but the designs are almost quintessential Mucha.
The images appear on the individual boxes of soap as well as on this counter-top display, which
Rennert and Weill believe may also have been “designed by Mucha himself ” (Rennert / Weill p. 318).
RARE
. We have found no previous auction records. Lendl p. 261 (var), Rennert / Weill 91, Darmstadt
p. 313, Mucha / Henderson 163, Mucha / Bridges G2o, Spirit of Art Nouveau 82.
[3,000/4,000]
D’APRÈS ALPHONSE MUCHA (1860-1939)
200
●
WHITMAN’S CHOCOLATES AND CONFECTIONS / PHILADELPHIA. Circa 1920s.
17
5
/
8
x12
1
/
2
inches, 44
3
/
4
x31
3
/
4
cm.
Condition A- / B+: mat staining and repaired tears in margins, not affecting image; minor skinning at bottom
edge. Matted and framed.
It is unclear whether Stephen F. Whitman, the confectioner and chocolatier behind Whitman's Chocolates,
ever officially licensed Mucha’s image for
Zodiac
to use in advertising his chocolates, yet throughout
the 1920s, Mucha’s famed image appeared in magazine ads and on tin boxes filled with a variety of
chocolates for the company. For the poster, the central figure has all of the hair, ornate jewelry and stars
of Mucha’s original, but has lost the zodiac references and gained a prominent mosaic background
and border.
RARE
. We have found no other copies at auction.
[1,200/1,800]
199