Lot 1636: 20 Czech Poster 100th Ann. Josef Manes'Birth

20 Czech Poster 100th Ann. Josef Manes'Birth
This 26-1/2" x 39-3/4" Art Nouveau poster commemorates the 100th anniversary of the birth of one of Prague's greatest artists, Josef Manes (1820-1871). Manes many portraits and genre scenes captured Czech life in costuming in high detail, producing a lasting record of his own life's window in time. This commemorative poster pictures a woman kneeling at a tomb or wall that contains a medallion portrait of Manes, an obvious homage to the series of astrological medallions that he later painted for Prague's famous astronomical clock of the early 1400s. It appears that this tribute poster has had three of its borders neatly trimmed away, leaving only the lower border which contains the lithographer's imprint (Unie of Prague). The artist's signature appears within the work, but the signature is so stylized that it is unreadable. The poster now presents at the NM level.