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Second Chance Sale: Masterpiece Posters

Second Chance Sale: Masterpiece Posters

Our Second Chance Sale from Rare Posters #81 has plenty of great lots still available—and they’re all on sale for the reserve price plus our 20% commission through July 31. Explore our selections of iconic works—and view all available lots here.

To purchase, please leave a bid on the desired lot online or call us at 212-787-4000.

10. Mosaicos Hidráulicos Òrsola Solá y Cia. 1898.
By Alejandro de Riquer
33 1/8 x 49 1/4 in./84 x 125.2 cm
Price: $2,400

De Riquer contributes his Art Nouveau aesthetic to a Barcelona firm specializing in hydraulic mosaics—a collaboration that was actually quite typical of the time. The decorative pigmented cement tiles were first invented in France in the mid-19th century, but it was a Barcelona company that developed it into an alternative product to natural stones like marble. The rise of this technique coincided with modernisme, spurring complex and artistic designs created by artists including de Riquer and Gaudí.

View all Spanish posters.
48. Our Party has Brought Spring to the Country. 1961.
By H. Lam
29 1/4 x 42 7/8 in./74.2 x 109 cm
Price: $2,400

“The first Five Year Plan [from] 1961-1965 set the government on an ambitious reconstruction agenda… after the French defeat in 1954. Gripped by a severe food shortage, the North Vietnamese government campaigned to increase food and industry by emphasizing the importance of peasants and workers. The posters… [promoted] efficient agricultural practices and increased industrial production. Images of abundance and productive agriculture were common… Through the depiction of fertility and abundance, it was hoped that peasant farmers would be inspired to work harder and increase production making the country happy and prosperous. The government set highly unrealistic goals for food production and introduced a ruthless land reform program commencing in 1955. The harsh reality for the peasants and workers during this period was quite different from the positive images reflected in propaganda posters” (Deborah Salter).

View all North Vietnam posters.
102. FN (Fabrique Nationale). 1925.
By Marcello Nizzoli
32 1/4 x 47 1/8 in./81.8 x 119.8 cm
Price: $4,880

Nizzoli’s arresting Art Deco design with a phantom-like motorcycle rider emphasizes both power and comfort, as the fashionable passenger can easily put on her lipstick during the ride. Nizzoli was a most versatile artist: painter, decorator, textile designer, and posterist. Many of his posters were for automobile companies. In 1938 he joined Olivetti and was responsible for some of their finest designs in the 1940s and 1950s. He produced a monograph on the firm in 1968.

View all Bicycle posters.
123. Circuit de Dieppe. ca. 1930.
Anonymous
31 x 46 1/2 in./78.5 x 118.2 cm
Price: $7,200

This riveting international event took place for 7 consecutive years in the commune of Saint-Aubin-sur-Scie. From 1929 to 1935, cars and motorcycles competed on the 76.5 kilometer track for the grand prize. Competitors included F1 drivers from around the world, though six of seven winners were French; most drove Bugattis. This undated design provides a graphic vista of the veritable speed obtained by the drivers; events included a speed contest as well as an elegance contest. Rare!

View all Automobile posters.
128. Verona Concorsi Aerei. 1910.
By Aldo Mazza
38 3/4 x 76 3/8 in./98.3 x 194 cm
Price: $14,400

Mazza’s official promotion for Verona’s first major air meet is truly a tour de force. Set against a perfectly cloudless sky, we see the statue that adorns the grave of Cangrande della Scala, Verona’s ruler from 1311 to 1329; he was also the leading patron of poet Dante Alighieri. Above him, we glimpse two of the competing aircraft: a Blériot and a Voisin; an Antoinette was also flown in the events. The meet boasted 200,000 lire in prize money for the daily races, though a lack of entrants in the international speed contest meant that 40,000 lire were never awarded. Competitors included Paulhan, Efimoff, Duray, Chavez, Molon, Küller, and Cataneo—the only Italian flier. Though the event was considered a financial failure, it was touted as a success for early aviation. This is a two-sheet poster—and rare!

View all Aviation posters.
192. Salon des Cent. 1896.
By Pierre Bonnard
17 1/4 x 24 7/8 in./43.7 x 63.2 cm
SOLD

The drawing of a woman admonishing her dog appears only half-finished, with the right side remaining blank, but all the pertinent elements are there: the fashionable veiled hat, the gesture of the gloved hand, and the attentive pose of the pooch. Colta Ives, in the catalogue of the Bonnard exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, speaks of “the softly delineated forms [in the Salon des Cent], enhanced with touches of modeling and color” and feels that although he was part of the Nabis group, “his adoption of a more relaxed and lyrically sensuous approach” set him apart from that fraternity (Ives, p. 6). This charming invitation is surely one of the finest and most sensitive lithographs of Bonnard and of the entire Salon des Cent series.

View all Art Exhibition posters.
194. Chocolat Menier. ca. 1895.
By Firmin Bouisset
39 x 58 3/4 in./99 x 149 cm
Price: $3,120

Most frequently, Bouisset’s design of this young female graffiti artist shows her scribbling “Chocolat Menier” on the blank slate of a wall she has happened upon (see previous lot). In this lesser-seen, later version, the young girl is writing “Eviter les Contrefaçons” (Avoid Substitutes). Regardless of version, the seductive charm of the composition remains, making it one of the most appealing posters by this artist who frequently used children as his theme.

View all Bouisset posters.
199. Marseille / Porte de l’Afrique du Nord. 1929.
By Roger Broders
24 7/8 x 39 1/4 in./63.3 x 99.7 cm
Price: $4,320

At the Porte de L’Afrique du Nord, hoards of international ships fill the peaceful sea as they anticipate new trade opportunities resulting from PLM’s railway expansion. From Broder’s idealized vantage point, we glimpse the Basilique Notre-Dame de la Garde, a church dedicated to the seafarer, rising on the hill; the dome to the left, of the Cathédrale La Major, would be difficult to see from the harbor at this angle. Nevertheless, the geometric composition, specked with coral red and dreamy sea blue, is a powerful depiction of the monumental change about to shake Marseille.

View all Art Deco posters.
212. Automobiles Charron Ltd. / Puteaux. ca. 1906.
By Leonetto Cappiello
49 3/8 x 77 1/4 in./125.5 x 196.2 cm
Price: $6,000

“Fernand Charron, who won the first Gordon Bennett cup in a car of his own design in 1900, eventually took over the Automobiles Charron firm and manufactured large, comfortable—and expensive—sedans. The closed cab shown in the poster was the natural automotive evolution from a carriage design—it was very popular with the aristocracy as it exuded elegance and luxury. All of this is reinforced in Cappiello’s design, showing an elegant lady giving directions to her driver before entering the cab. The frame around the image, including the title plate, suggests that the Charron automobile is a masterpiece” (Cappiello/Rennert, p. 90).

View all Cappiello posters.
265. Paul Hankar Architecte. 1894.
By Adolphe Crespin
15 3/4 x 21 1/4 in./40 x 54 cm
SOLD

We virtually never see posters for professional services—but this advertisement for Paul Hankar, one of Belgium’s best Art Nouveau architects, is really something special. To promote Hankar’s exteriors, Crespin takes an inward dive to illuminate the life within. In this perfectly proportioned work, symbolic forms—from compasses to honeycombs, rulers and protractors—surround the architect as an expression of his own mind. “The warm and vivid coloring further adds, if that’s possible, to the merit of this print which remains one of the best—if not the very best —of Crespin” (Beaumont, p. 48).

View all Art Nouveau posters.
351. Cointreau. 1930.
By Charles Loupot
46 7/8 x 62 3/4 in./119 x 159.5 cm
Price: $6,000

Loupot created two posters for Cointreau using the image of the commedia dell’arte clown Pierrot; one male (see PAI-XLV, 369) and one female, as seen here. Pierrot had been a staple of advertising for more than 30 years and Loupot was brought in to give a much-needed update to the clown. Loupot abstracts and stylizes the character into Cubist forms defined by a textural orange peel which refers to the sour orange whose peel flavors this curaçao liqueur. The clown’s nose clip is not just an eye-catching device—Loupot borrowed the accessory from photographs of the famed mime artist Najac as Pierrot.

View all Loupot posters.
356. Mele & Ci. / Mode Novità. 1910.
By Gian Emilio Malerba
55 3/4 x 80 3/8 in./141.6 x 204.2 cm
Price: $10,800

Three elegant creatures take a two-sheet stroll—two of them showing off their latest finery from the Mele department store, the third equally well coifed and wearing fur. Malerba designed a number of posters for Ricordi, including at least three for Mele. “This poster of 1910 is the best bearing the painter Malerba’s signature and certainly among the most interesting of the Mele posters” (Mele, p. 206). Rare!

View all Fashion posters.
402. F. Champenois / Reverie. 1897.
By Alphonse Mucha
20 1/4 x 26 1/2 in./51.5 x 67.5 cm
SOLD

For many years, this design was simply known as “Reverie,” the name under which the decorative panel version of the design was widely sold by La Plume without lettering. However, further research appears to establish that its original use was as an in-house poster for a variety of establishments, from printing firms to chocolate manufacturers. Here, however, is the first incarnation of the design, used by F. Champenois to usher in the New Year of 1898. This is the version with text.

View all Mucha posters.
454. Chocolats / Thés Cie Française. 1895.
By Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen
31 1/8 x 45 3/4 in./79 x 116.3 cm
Price: $6,600

This is a very rare version with enlarged text border. A charming domestic scene advertises a tea importer. The cat was obviously expecting a dish of milk that would be used in the making of cocoa, the company’s other most popular product. The girl is Steinlen’s daughter, Colette, and the woman is his wife, Emilie. More than any other poster artist, Steinlen entices us with a heartfelt charm and sympathetic treatment of subjects. In fact, this design was so irresistible that the client used it with several text variations; this is one of the least known versions.

View all Steinlen posters.
470. Jane Avril. 1893.
By Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
36 1/2 x 50 3/8 in./92.8 x 128 cm
Price: $72,000

“Universally considered his most brilliant and successful design” (Wagner, p. 22). “The Wine Spectator” introduces Toulouse-Lautrec’s world-famous lithograph this way: “Jane Avril on stage doing her specialty, which, according to contemporaries, was essentially a cancan that she made exotic by making a pretense of prudery—the ‘depraved virgin’ image aimed at arousing the prurience in the predominantly male audience. The sexual innuendo was captured by the artist by contrasting the dancer’s slender legs with the robust, phallic neck of the bass viol in the foreground—a masterly stroke that not only heightens our perception but also creates an unusual perspective: we see the performer as an orchestra member would, and this allows Toulouse-Lautrec to show, as if inadvertently, how tired and somewhat downcast she looks close-up, not at all in keeping with the gaiety of the dance that is perceived by the audience. It is clear, as Maindron has pointed out, that she is dancing entirely for the viewer’s pleasure, not hers, which makes it a highly poignant image. Seemingly without trying, Toulouse-Lautrec not only creates a great poster but makes a personal statement: Only a person who really cares about his subject as a human being would portray her with such startling candor” (Wine Spectator, 41). This is a hand-signed poster dedicated to A. Alexandre.

View all Toulouse-Lautrec posters.
View all Second Chance Sale posters

The Second Chance Sale is live through July 31.
All available posters from our 81st Auction are priced at the reserve plus commission.
To purchase, place a bid on the online lot or call us at 212-787-4000.

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