Armand Rassenfosse

Armand Rassenfosse, one of the leading representatives of Belgian Art Nouveau, was active as a painter, printmaker and book illustrator. Born into a family of art dealers, he collected old and contemporary prints and was largely self-educated. From 1886 he was a close friend and collaborator of Félicien Rops, who was thirty years his elder. Their joint interest in printmaking techniques led them to develop their own variant of vernis mou which they called “Ropsenfosse”. It was not until after 1900 that the artist increasingly turned his attention to painting.

After 1890 Rassenfosse designed high-quality Art Nouveau advertising posters portraying elegant female figures. He designed the present poster for the Salon des Cent that was founded by Léon Deschamps in 1896. This was a retail business located at 31 rue Bonaparte in Paris, where artists’ prints, posters and art reproductions were on sale that were to have a major influence on the development of Art Nouveau poster art. In this work Rassenfosse shows the interior of a gallery. A lady in an orange-coloured coat is peering through a lorgnette at the prints hanging on the wall, while a companion looks up from her catalogue booklet to ponder on what she has just read. It is quite possible that Rassenfosse drew inspiration from the iconic image of Mary Cassatt au Louvre created by Edgar Degas in 1879/80. A fine trial proof before letters, which in the final state occupy a prominent place in the top text margin and in the lower part of the image. Minor light-staining and handling marks in the margins, a repaired tear in the right margin, a few small repaired tears along the lower margin, minor repairs, otherwise in good condition.

6.500 €