Chrysantemums – Paul Berthon, 1899

“Chrysanthemums”, colour lithograph made in 1899 after the design by Paul Berthon. Size: 62 x 45 cm.

Despite his short life, Paul Berthon (1872–1908) was one of the masters of early poster design and a central figure in the Art Nouveau movement. In this sensual work, a girl reclines languorously among large chrysanthemum blooms, symbols of transience and beauty. Berthon’s design is characterized by an autumnal, light brown palette, elegant contours, and a sensitivity to the natural world. As in Chrysanthemums, he often favored the motif of the woman as femme fatale, a result of his interest in Symbolism — a late 19th-century movement that emphasized the importance of dreams and the imagination.

Paul Berthon’s graphic work consists of 94 original lithographs. One third of these are advertisements; the rest he referred to as Panneaux Décoratifs. These are self-contained artworks — posters without text — early examples of what we now know as art posters, designed purely to decorate interior spaces. It was a new art form: affordable and accessible to a broad audience.

Price: SOLD