“PORTRAIT DE MLLE PAUL”, 1891
Pastel on wood panel
Signed and dated 1891
The frame in “bois de Sainte-Lucie” (prunus mahaleb)
With the frame: 193 x 135 cm.
Exhibition
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, 1892, n. 1331
Bibliography
Chantal Humbert, Les Arts Décoratifs en Lorraine de la fin du XVIIème siècle à l’ère industrielle,
les éditions de l’amateur, ill. p. 136
“L’ETOILE DES INCONNUS”, CIRCA 1900
Indian ink and color. Signed lower left and marked: X, Etoile des inconnus ! jambes et bras ouverts, tout nus. Croix charnelle ou l’homme s’immole
26.5 x 19.3 cm.
PRESUMED PORTRAIT OF PETROVNA BLAVATSKA, 1887
Oil on canvas (relined)
Signed, dated 1887 lower right
54 x 43 cm.
Born in Russia, Helena Petrovna Blavatska (Jekaterinoslav 1831 – London 1891) visited several countries, including India. She became an authority of Indian mysticism and, from 1875, directed an order in New York, the Theosophical Society. Already a major celebrity when arriving in London, she founded an esoteric section of the aforesaid society, and brought an Oriental influence on the hermetic order, the Golden Dawn. Blavatska published works, just like the orientalist painter Isabelle de Steiger who later became a member of the Golden Dawn.
RARE LITHOGRAPH “FEMME AUX ORCHIDEES”, CIRCA 1902-1904
Colour lithograph
Signed, with the artist’s circular seal adapted from a Japanese motif
46 x 61.5 cm.
Bibliography
Victor Arwas, Art Nouveau: The French Aesthetic, Andreas Papadakis Publisher, London, 2002, ill. p. 197-198
Manuel Orazi designed important Art Nouveau posters for La Maison Moderne, as well as for Sarah Bernhardt, the 1900 Exposition Universelle, Loïe Fuller, and the Palais de la Danse. His works in oils, gouache and watercolours were exhibited
at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts from 1897. He also supplied illustrations for periodicals and for books. As the principal artist working for La Maison Moderne, besides a poster, he created objets d’art and jewellery
“LA MORT”, BEFORE 1910
Watercolour
This is the watercolour that was used to illustrate Charles Baudelaire’s famous book Les Fleurs du Mal, engraved by Eugène Decisy and titled La Mort
“L’APPARITION DU GRAAL A PERCEVAL”
Oil on panel
Signed
72 x 67 cm.
This painting depicts the moment in Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal when “The light radiates,
the Graal sets itself ablaze and a dove comes down from the dome above Parsifal.
He refuses to kiss Kundry whom remorseful falls and dies”.
TWO LITHOGRAPHIC POSTERS FOR THE BALLETS RUSSES AT THE MONTE-CARLO THEATER, EVENING OF 19th APRIL 1911
The first poster represents the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, dressed in a suit designed by Leon Bakst
for The Specter of the Rose
Signed
91 x 57 cm.
The second poster represents the dancer Tamara Karsavina
Signed
90 x 56.5 cm.
“JERUSALEM”, 1907
Watercolor, ink on paper
Signed, dated 1907 and titled GUSTAV ADOLF MOSSA NICIENSIS HOC OPUS PINSIT MCMVII lower left
and JERUSALEM lower right
51 x 32 cm.
Bibliography A preparatory drawing of this work is illustrated in: Roger Soubiran, Gustav Adolf Mossa 1883-1971, Nice 1985 Gustav Adolf Mossa,catalogue des oeuvres symbolistes, Somogy éditions d’art, 2010, ill. p. 249
Provenance
Drouot, Paris, 8 April 1986
Private collection, USA