Václav Oliva, Topičův Salon from Les Maîtres de L'Affiche, 1897, Original Lithograph

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Václav Oliva (1861-1928) a.k.a. Viktor Oliva

Topičův Salon

Year: 1897
Lithograph on wove paper
Publisher: Chaix

Signed in the plate, … Read more Václav Oliva (1861-1928) a.k.a. Viktor Oliva

Topičův Salon

Year: 1897
Lithograph on wove paper
Publisher: Chaix

Signed in the plate, right

from the famous collection "Les Maîtres de l'Affiche"
Issue # 25, Plate #100, December 1897

Bottom left:
Les Maîtres de l'Affiche PL. 100
Imprimerie Chaix
(Encres Lorilleux & Cie.)

Bottom right, blind stamp of publisher / edition

Very Good Condition

Literature:
"The Complete Masters of the Poster", edited by Stanley Appelbaum, Dover, New York, 1990, p. 100
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About the collection "Les Maîtres de l'Affiche"

Les Maîtres de l'Affiche (The Masters of the Poster) is one of the most prestigious and influential art publications in history Its 256 color plates have preserved for each succeeding generation a wide-ranging selection of outstanding posters from the turn of the century, when that popular art form had reached its first peak.

The earliest printed posters were chiefly typographic, with relatively few illustrated examples. But in the second half of the nineteenth century, when all types of commercial products, including printed matter, were being aesthetically upgraded, largely thanks to various arts-and-crafts movements, serious artists such as Manet began to see new possibilities in the poster medium. It was especially Jules Chéret (1836-1932) whose unique combination of artistic, technical and entrepreneurial talents was to pave the way for a true poster industry. After Chéret opened his own print shop in Paris in 1866, his work continued to inspire numerous emulators in Europe and America. from 1881 on, his shop operated as a branch of the large Chaix firm (Imprimerie Chaix)

By the 1890s the streets of every great metropolis were enlivened by large, colourful posters.
This Chaix publication, Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, was issued as separate numbered sheets measuring 40 x 29 cm. Every month for 60 months, from December 1895 through November 1900, subscribers received a wrapper containing four consecutively numbered poster. On 16 occasions the monthly wrapper also contained a bonus plate, a specially created art lithograph. Jules Chéret, artistic director of Chaix and father of the modern poster, emerged with the lion's share of the plates, one Chéret being included in each monthly issue of four, and seven of the 16 unnumbered bonus plates.

Of the 97 artists represented in Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, some were preeminent painters and printmakers at various stages of their careers: Toulouse-Lautrec, Denis, Bonnard, Vallotton, Puvis de Chavannes. Others were famous illustrators and cartoonists of the period, still well known to art collectors and bibliophiles. Forain, Caran d'Ache, Ibels, Willette, Boutet de Monvel, Léandre. But there were also all those whose names say "poster," the conquering pioneers of the new medium. Chéret himself, Mucha, Steinlen, the Beggarstaffs, Grasset, Penfield, Parrish, Bradley, Hardy The list could go on and on.
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About the Artist

Václav Oliva (24 April 1861 – 5 April 1928) was a Czech painter and illustrator.
He was born in Nové Strašecí, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, and attended the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, where is studied under František Sequens, then in Munich.

In 1888 he was drawn to the Montmartre area of Paris to be part of the ever rapidly expanding artistic community there. His art greatly improved in such a richly artistic environment. Paris is where he discovered the joy of absinthe, and greatly loved the exhilaration of ballooning. He was part of a group of Bohemians artists, who lived and worked there for several years before returning to their home in true Bohemia.

In 1897 he was given the job of Images Editor at the popular Czech language magazine Zlatá Praha (Golden Prague).
Over the next quarter century, Oliva was very prolific in his work. He also had several works hanging in his favorite cafe, Café Slavia (which still has his most famous work Piják absintu, the Absinthe Drinker, hanging inside).
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Important:

. The listing is for the original lithograph.
. The cover of the issue by Jules Chéret is shown for reference.
This piece has an attribution mark,
I am sure that it is completely authentic and take full responsibility for any authenticity
issues arising from misattribution See less