Le Sillon poster – Fernand Toussaint – 1895 – Les Maitres de Affiche Plate 80

Le Sillon poster Fernand Toussaint 1895 Well, if you’re going to make an impact on the art world, you need to start with a painting like this! That’s exactly what Belgian artist Fernand Toussaint did in 1895. This Le Sillon poster was the first design Toussaint had published. The poster is widely considered to be a masterpiece. Toussaint’s beautifully crafted image features a beautiful young woman in a dreamlike golden haze. The contented and peaceful looking young woman is pictured in a floral garden, gathering up flowers for the harvest festival.  She is surrounded by a wide variety of flora, some of which she is about to cut with the scythe in her left hand. Le Sillon poster is obviously influenced by the art nouveau movement and the work of Toussaint’s contemporary’s including Paul Berthon, Henri Privat Livemont and Alphonse Mucha. Toussaint’s painting has been created using a soft warm palette.The subtle yellows in her dress and hair blend into the yellowing of the paper it is printed on. Sporadic bursts of green and red punctuate the ethereal artwork. The image is completed with the name of the group, movement and literary journal, ‘le Sillon’ hand-drawn in a bold, free curved art nouveau style lettering Le Sillon, not just a poster… an art group, a political movement and a literary journal. Le Sillon is French for ‘The Furrow’ which is a long, narrow trench made in the ground by plough to plant seeds in. It is the name adopted by a group of young art students at the Stanislas College in Paris. The early 1900’s saw the rise of many influential and powerful artistic movements and political groups. Groups such and Pour l’Art, Libre Esthetique and, of course, Le Sillon were attracting avant garde artists from all over Europe. The Le Sillon circle was founded in 1894 by Marc Sangier. His aim was to bring together Catholicism with the liberal-conservative and socialist ideals. Intended to provide an alternative to Marxism and other anticlerical labour movements. Together with fellow Stanislas student Paul Renaudin, Sangier founded a literary and philosophic journal, also named Le Sillon.  Its articles were symbolic of the aspirations of the youth and their approach to the new century. The magazine operated between 1894 and 1910 and over the course of its brief existence did indeed transform the French landscape. It also led to the development of the Christian Democratic Movement led by Marc Sangnier. There is some debate about what the poster was designed for. Some accounts claim Le Sillon poster was produced to advertise an exhibition by the artists’ group. Others believe it was published to promote the Le Sillon magazine. Who knows! Maybe, back in 1895, it was used to do both. Les Maîtres de l’Affiche Pl 80 Jules Cheret considered Toussaint’s Le Sillon poster to be of a high enough quality to reprint it as a poster and include it in his Maitres d’Affiches series as Plate 80. This plate is from the Maitres de l’Affiche (Masters of the Poster) collection one of 256 color lithographic plates delivered to monthly subscribers in sets of four beginning in 1895 and continuing through 1900. The collection was reproduced from the original posters of ninety-seven artists in a smaller 15 3/4 x 11 3/8 inch (40 x 29 cm) format. The individual plates were issued as separate numbered sheets, with the printer’s name, “Imprimerie Chaix,” in the margin at the bottom left-hand corner. How much is Fernand Toussaint’s Le Sillon poster worth? This beautiful and ethereal Le Sillon poster is an artistic and lithographic masterpiece. It was Toussaint’s first published poster and with he understandably gained instant recognition.  The poster is extremely rare as an original stone lithographic print and even many of the Maitres de l’affiche prints command high prices. An original Le Sillon poster sold way back in 2002 for over $16,000. Of course, if you can find an original copy and can afford to buy it, you’re on to a winner. There’s nothing like owning an original vintage poster and they often make a great investment. Chances are in just a few years you’ll be able to sell it for more than you paid for it. Unfortunately, for most of us, an investment, even at the entry-level prices of the collectible poster isn’t even close to being a possibility. This is where our stunning high-quality reproductions come into their own. They cost a fraction of an original and look absolutely fantastic when they’re framed and hung on your living room wall.