Rare Art Nouveau Book Up For Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 1st 2007 at 3:02PM

For fans of the Art Nouveau, Swann Galleries' December 19 auction of Art Nouveau Posters offers are chance to buy a rare treasure. Up for auction is a a book containing 138 hand-colored proofs by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha. This book, in which Mucha applied watercolor coloring to sheets with lithographed outlines of his designs for Ilsee Princesse de Tripoli, is Mucha at his most ethereal. The book represents Mucha's most complete statement in the Art Nouveau style. The book hasn't been exhibited in 110 years, since 1897 when the Salon des Cent dedicated a show to over 400 of Mucha's works. The book is estimated to sell for $300,000 to $400,000.

Tags: art, art auctions, art nouveau, rare books