Lithograph by Manuel Orazi: “La Maison Moderne” (“The Modern House”)

This stunning lithograph was created by the Italian artist Emannuel Orazi for La Maison Moderne, the gallery of Bing’s competitor Julius Meyer-Graefe. The model, muse, and superstar Cleo Merode is superbly dressed with two hair combs designed by Manuel Orazi. Bertrand Mothes, in his paper, “La Maison Moderne de Julius Meyer-Graefe” helps us identify these objects: “an inkwell bearing a bronze figure of Alexander Carpenter on a base designed by [Maurice] Dufrêne and made of flamed sandstone by Adrien Dalpayrat, an armchair by Van de Velde, a bronze lamp by Gustave Gurschner, a vase by Dufrêne and Dalpayrat and a monkey figurine by Joseph Mendes da Costa.” The niche that houses these objects is the same shape as Dalpayrat’s flambe vase, creating a satisfying rhythm to the composition. Orazi artfully places a stalk of Monnaie-du-pape (Papal Money) plant in the dalpayrat vase. The Monnaie-du-pape was the favored plant of Art Nouveau artists in both Paris and Nancy. Loved for its glass-like transparency and elegant ogival shape, Orazi and his fellow Maison Moderne artists often included the fruit in their work.