Classic 1908 ‘Electricity Fairy’ Poster Lights Up Auction, Selling for $25,000
Dazzling Art Deco poster by artist David Dellepiane from French exposition provides juice for Poster Auctions International event.
During the 19th century, a series of revolutionary discoveries enabled electricity to be generated, harnessed and sold, fundamentally changing the world.
The Electricity Fairy depicted in this 1908 poster by David Dellepiane (1866-1932) for an exposition in Marseille, France, astonished viewers. The dazzling allegorical figure, giving a human face to a physical phenomenon which by its very nature cannot be depicted, conveyed intimations of luxury and festive extravagance in ever greater measure. This stunning poster, 62 3/4 in. x 43 3/4 in., sold for $25,000 in November at Poster Auctions International, Inc., New York.
The advent of electric power and lighting coincided with the triumphant arrival of the art poster. It comes as no surprise, then, that progressive entrepreneurs frequently used this modern medium to win over public opinion. The Electricity Fairy’s theatrical pose and the hypnotic lighting effects high above the Marseilles exhibition ground give this poster by Dellepiane strong dramatic expressiveness. The effects of the light on the Fairy’s green body and the trailing clouds and plumes of smoke against the red sky are extremely subtle.
Dellpiane was a French painter, lithographer and poster artist of Italian origin.
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