DANSE

Art Nouveau bas-relief siderolith plaque produced by Johann Maresch after 'Danse', one of four lithographs in Alphonse Mucha's 'Les Arts' series (1898). Stamped JM and with the model number 4495 to the reverse. In excellent condition with just one small nick to the paint surface of the dress. Dimensions 59 cm x 39.5 cm.

A rare and beautiful bas-relief plaque that exemplifies Art Nouveau's emphasis on the marriage of the fine and decorative arts as well as Alphonse Mucha's monumental impact on the movement. The design is from Mucha's 'Danse' decorative panel from his 'Les Arts' series, commissioned and printed by the Parisian printer Champenois. Mucha and Champenois embarked upon a successful partnership in 1896, producing theatre posters and advertisements for companies such as Moët and Chandon and Job cigarettes. Mucha's designs were so popular with the public that Champenois asked him to produce purely decorative posters (without text) for sale to collectors, a new concept at the time. This prompted Mucha to develop his decorative panel series, the first of which depicted the seasons personified as beautiful women. Later series were based on precious stones, the moon and stars and times of day. Mucha's Chapenois panels present an intriguing distillation of Art Nouveau values, reproducing incredibly skilfully executed and visually rich designs whilst also utilising industrial production methods, embracing the practical nature of the decorative arts and rendering art available to a wide audience. Of the panels, Mucha wrote "I was happy to be involved in an art for the people and not for private drawing rooms. It was inexpensive, accessible to the general public, and it found a home in poor families as well as in more affluent circles" (Mucha Foundation). The work of Johann Maresch and his ceramic studio, heavily influenced by Art Nouveau, straddled a similar convergence of concepts, creating both practical and purely decorative objects that were durable, accessible and reflected commercially popular designs, but always centred beauty and artistic merit. Johann Maresch produced ceramics of all kinds, from fishbowls to figurines, but Art Nouveau sensibilities surface particularly strongly in their vases (many of which were designed by August Otto) and relief plaques. Bas-relief was a common component of the Art Nouveau style, utilised in architecture, sculpture and interior and applied design to build the highly decorative, opulent and naturalistic appearance for which the movement was known. This Johann Maresch production of 'Danse' creates an interesting extension of the Champenois panels and the idea of art as interior decoration. Originally designed for reproduction and for decorative use by a wide range of people, the design is here reproduced with a further degree of separation, in a material and form with a long history of use in mass-production and the applied arts, rooting Mucha's work even further within the world of crafts.