Lot 94: POSTER: ADOLPHE CRESPIN (1859-1944). PAUL HAN

ADOLPHE CRESPIN (1859-1944) PAUL HANKAR. 1894.
21 1/4x16 inches, 53 1/2x40 1/2 cm. A. D. Mertens, Brussels.
Condition B+ / A-: minor restored losses in corners; expertly repaired tears in margins and image.
A Belgian painter, artist, and interior decorator, Crespin spent time in Paris studying with the great French academic painter Leon Bonnat. A pioneer in Belgian Art Nouveau, Crespin's influence was both theoretical and practical, as he was a professor at two major institutions, the Academie Royale and St. Josse ten Noode. Several of his posters were designed with Edward Duyck, whose premature death in 1897 ended their collaboration. Crespin was very friendly with the famous architect Paul Hankar, with whom he worked designing the Art Nouveau facades of many buildings. Here he shows his friend diligently at work. What makes this poster so effective and appealing are the details and the ornamentation. Crespin sets the poster against a decorative, geometric background of a honeycomb, in itself a natural wonder of construction as well as a metaphor for hard, industrious work. Then he ingeniously integrates the emblematic tools of an architect's trade (a plumb line, ruler and triangles) into the image. DFP-II 1019, Maitres 91, Weill 88, Reims 1444, Wine Spectator 107, Word & Image p. 38, Maitres 1900 p. 97.