168 - FRITZELACKPUBLICITÉE ANCIENNE | PLAQUE ÉMAILLÉE

FRITZELACKPUBLICITÉE ANCIENNE | PLAQUE ÉMAILLÉE Condition (1-2) | Enamel sign, convex, thickly stenciled, lithographed and partly colored by hand, Vienna/AT around 1900, 30 x 50 cm, Ernst Heene Emailschilderfabrik, Germersheim a/Rhein, signed: Adolf Karpellus. Karpellus (1869–1919) was an Austro-Hungarian painter, illustrator, and poster artist of the Vienna Modernism movement who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. One of his best-known advertising motifs is the “Fritzelack Boy,” who, stumbling along, spills the paints of the Viennese manufacturer. This drawing even entered figurative language in the early 20th century. From then on, the motif served as the model for a particularly acrobatic fall while skiing, named after it: Anyone who spread their skis apart and inevitably braked with their face in the snow had “done a Fritzelack.” This is the only well-preserved example known to us. In fact, to date we have seen only one other version, a Hungarian one. An early example of craftsmanship perfected in this enamel sign. All motifs are filled in with thick, icing-like paint and finely colored. The transition from the red spilled enamel to the brand lettering in the same color rounds off the design. It’s a miracle how the surface and such delicate coloring have withstood the weather over the decades. | This is an authentic original, no replica or fake. Worldwide in-house shipping for most items. Wooden crates are available