Lot Essay
The present lot is a sketch for Toorop's lithograph poster of the Delftsche Slaolie from 1894. In comparison with the image of the original sketch the poster is in the reverse. The poster served to advertise a table oil for salads. The composition is so full that it almost obscures the real subject: women pouring oil out of a bottle. This poster became so popular that no book on Jugendstil or Art Nouveau fails to include it. Due to this success Dutch Art Nouveau became synonymous with the so called 'salad oil style'. Almost the whole area of the image is occupied by the play of undulating parallel lines of the garments and hair of the women: style elements very typical for Toorop's symbolist works. His major symbolist works were executed between 1890-1894.
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist's work, currently being prepared by G.W.C. van Wezel
See colour illustration
To be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist's work, currently being prepared by G.W.C. van Wezel
See colour illustration