This is a fine art lithograph. It’s an original work of fine art which was produced at the prestigious S2 Atelier in New York City in 1998. It was inspired by a poster first created in 1894. These fine art lithographs are recreations of the original. Great care was taken to precisely re-create the artists original image. Most of the chromists hand draw directly onto specially prepared surfaces that are then transferred onto lithographic plates. Lithography involves creating hand drawn plates, one for each color, which are then ‘pulled’ through antique printing presses one color at a time. The resulting lithograph is in pure color, as opposed to the dot structure which occurs in the photographic process of modern printing. At the heart of the S2 Atelier are it’s two rare, French made Marinoni Voirin ‘editioning’ printing presses ‘ they both date back to the mid 19th century. These are the best fine art lithographs made in the industry today. You cannot find anything better than these. Crespin prepared this famous poster for his good friend the Art Nouveau architect Paul Hankar (1859-1901). Hankar is shown plying his craft in his studio at 63 rue de Facqz. Fully absorbed in the act of creating, he stands in a relaxed pose, his slippered feet quaintly crossed, lazy curl of smoke rising from his cigarette. The tools of Hankar’s profession, T-squares, ruler, plumb line, become decorative framing elements. The elegant honeycomb of hexagons serves as a literal and figurative support for the architect’s beige silhouette. The bees allude, no doubt, to Hankar’s prodigious output.