Henry Altemus Company

 

Artists - Alphonse Mucha

 

Petit Trianon Series

 

Many of Altemus' publisher's series had various types and styles of artwork on the front covers. (See section on Publisher's Series). In 1901-2 one of the formats of the Petit Trianon Series was half vellum. The other half had an art nouveau illustration of a young lady in various poses. At this time two different illustrations have been seen that were initially posters done by Alphonse Mucha.

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was a well known Czech artist who excelled in the art nouveau arena with works designed for magazine covers, books, posters etc. It is most likely that Altemus appropriated these works for some of their covers without paying royalties. Mucha was not given credit within the books where his work appeared on the covers.

Below are two examples of the original and the cover illustrations - Poetry and Lady with Rose. As can be seen, they are close copies but the Altemus artists have revised them slightly.

 

Vademecum Series and Alphonse Mucha

 

A previous update on November 26, 2005 reviewed a Petit Trianon Series format that had illustrations by the Czech artist Mucha on the cover.

A new Mucha painting has been discovered on a Vademecum Series cover. Until recently it was felt that the 1901 Vademecum Series books has only scenic illustrations from European artists in the rectangle on the front cover. Altemus used a series of paintings randomly on the Vademecum books between 1901 and 1907. The pictures were placed within different front cover patterns on the books of these years. So far 34 different paintings have been discovered. Now a book has been discovered in the 1901 Vademecum Series that did not have a painting of scenery but rather has an Alphonse Mucha painting.

The painting is entitled Winter and was from his The Seasons Series. It was painted in 1896.

It is possible that other non scenery paintings were used by Altemus. These as of yet are undiscovered. The Mucha cover is shown here with an example of a more typical cover.

 

 

As noted in this section on April 21, 2007 a new Alphonse Mucha painting was discovered on the applique of a 1901 Vademecum Series book. That picture was from The Seasons Series painted in 1896 by Alphonse Mucha, the Czechoslavakian artist. It was entitled Winter. The series consisted of 4 pictures, one for each season.

Now the picture Spring has been discovered on another 1901 Vademecum book. At this point in time it is reasonable to presume that the other two pictures from The Seasons Series will be discovered.

Winter

Spring

 

 

This book has an applique which is from an Alphonse Mucha painting called Summer. Originally it was part of a set of paintings called The Seasons Series. With the discovery of this painting three of the four "Seasons" have been seen as appliques on this 1901 Vademecum Series book. The other pictures are also shown below.

Summer

Spring

Winter

 

 

Here is the season Fall. Now all four seasons of the Seasons Series by Mucha are shown here.

Fall

 

 

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Last Revision July 13, 2011