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Art Nouveau - Martini Postcards 1890s-1940s (12) [186198]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Postcards Start Price:680.00 USD Estimated At:1,700.00 - 3,500.00 USD
Art Nouveau - Martini Postcards 1890s-1940s (12) [186198]
SOLD
1,600.00USD+ (400.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2024 Aug 23 @ 15:43UTC-7 : PDT/MST
UNCLAIMED MERCHANDISE: In the event that a successful bidder has paid in full for their merchandise but fails to settle outstanding shipping invoices or make arrangements for merchandise pickup within 60 days, HWAC reserves the right to declare the merchandise forfeited. This forfeiture will result in the merchandise becoming the property of HWAC and the successful bidder shall have no claim to or rights over the forfeited merchandise.
A VERY RARE complete set of 12 different postcards by Alberto Martini, the artist famous for illustrating famous literary works, including producing 132 ink illustrations described as "macabre" for the stories of Edgar Allan Poe. Martini was an Italian painter, engraver, illustrator and graphic designer. Martini's range of work has been described by critics to be from "elegant and epic" to "grotesque and macabre." He is considered one of the precursors of Surrealism. These 12 postcards appear to be among his "elegant and epic" works. See photo(s) for details. Each is signed and 10 have publisher information printed on fronts: "Treviso - Stab Longo." Unused. Each with red ink stamped collector's round mark (Colleczione Bergamini G.) on verso. Light foxing, 1 with folded corner, some with slight wear on edges, otherwise clean.
Martini was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy, and received his early training from his father, a professor of drawing at the Instituto Tecnico in Treviso. In 1895 he began a series of illustrations for Luigi Pulci's Morgante Maggiore and Alessandro Tassoni's La secchia rapita. It would be the first of many literary works he would illustrate. His first exhibit at the Venice Biennale in 1897 consisted of drawings of beggars that were considered "picturesquely grotesque." At his first solo show in London, in 1907, he met publisher William Heinemann, who went on to use some of Martini's illustrations. Heinemann published many of the classics and the works of authors such as H. G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, and poet Sylvia Plath. Martini moved back to Treviso to live with his mother after his father's death in 1910, where he continued to do illustrations for works such as Shakespeare's Hamlet, and continued his painting, holding exhibits in London, Liverpool, Bologna, Milan and at the Venice Biennale. In 1923, he wrote "Vita d'artista," and shared his innovative ideas about theater and set design, which he illustrated and published in another book, "Tetiteatro." He returned to Paris in 1928 (after Italian critics disappointed him) where he produced a large number of paintings and published a satirical journal, "Perseus," with drawings and cartoons in 1940. In 1946 he was awarded a diploma of honor by the Museum of Fine Arts in Nancy, France. He didn't stop producing artwork until the end. He died in Milan in 1954. [] [] [Italy] [] []