A portrait-format colour art postcard showing a photograph of an Art Nouveau earthenware figure set against a plain pale grey studio background. The figure depicts a young woman caught mid-dance, one arm raised above her head, her long gown and vast trailing draperies sweeping outwards in great sculpted wings to left and right before pooling into a rippling, wave-like base. The glaze runs through mottled bronze-green, slate and olive tones with warm gilt-brown highlights catching the raised folds, giving the piece the appearance of patinated bronze. The reverse of the card is plain and unprinted apart from a small block of caption text in the lower left corner, which reads Reissner Stellmacher und Kessler, then Figure of Loie Fuller; earthenware, Austria, c.1900. h. 49.5cm, and beneath that in italics Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau, University of East Anglia, Norwich © 1987. There is no divided address side, stamp box or publisher's logo, and no message, address or postmark.Background
The sculpture pictured is a celebrated piece of Bohemian Art Nouveau ceramics by Reissner, Stellmacher & Kessel, the Turn-Teplitz firm that traded under the famous Amphora name and was one of the most inventive art potteries of the period. Working around 1900, the firm specialised in richly glazed, sculptural earthenware modelled in full relief, and this figure is among its best known subjects.The dancer portrayed is Loie Fuller (1862-1928), the American performer whose Serpentine Dance made her a sensation at the Folies-Bergere in Paris. By whirling metres of silk on concealed rods under coloured electric light she turned her body into a shifting abstract form, and she became one of the defining images of the Belle Epoque, endlessly reinterpreted by Art Nouveau sculptors, poster artists and lamp makers. The original figure stands 49.5cm high and belongs to the Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, a major collection of the period housed at the Sainsbury Centre. This card was published by the University to accompany the collection and carries a 1987 copyright line on the reverse.Condition
Pre-owned in Very Good condition. Unposted and unwritten, with a completely clean blank reverse - no message, address, stamp or postmark of any kind. The printed image on the front is bright and clear with good colour and no fading, creasing or tears visible. Corners and edges appear intact and reasonably sharp in the photographs, with only the very light surface handling and faint storage toning you would expect of a card of this age. Supplied loose as a single card. Please review all of the photographs closely, as they show the actual item you will receive and form part of this description.Who it's for
This will appeal to collectors of Art Nouveau and Jugendstil, Amphora and Bohemian art pottery enthusiasts researching Reissner, Stellmacher & Kessel, and anyone interested in dance history and the extraordinary career of Loie Fuller. It is also one for deltiologists who collect museum and gallery art cards, for Norwich and University of East Anglia local-interest collectors, and for anyone wanting an inexpensive image to mount or frame.Estimated Date
Printed 1987 or shortly after. The reverse carries a printed copyright line reading "Anderson Collection of Art Nouveau, University of East Anglia, Norwich (c) 1987", which fixes the publication date. The sculpture itself is dated on the card to circa 1900.
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