“Bitter Oriental”
This lovely lithograph poster, titled “Bitter Oriental”, is by the Belgian artist, Henri Privat-Livemont, from 1897. Trained as an interior decorator, Livemont is most remembered for his Art Nouveau style poster art.
Bitter Oriental was a drink made up of gin, orange juice, herbs, and oil, and is the concoction that the woman in the piece is putting together. She is holding up an orange and letting the juices drip into a seashell. Her long black hair is flowing. She is dressed in a see-through dress of an almost Grecian style. In her hair, she is wearing a headband adorned with moons and circles. She wears a snake designed armband and golden bracelets.
Livemont combined elements of French Japonisme with Islamic, Byzantine, and French influence to create this colorful cultural mishmash. After 200 years of isolation, Japan opened up to the west in the 1850s and 1860s, forming trade partnerships. The sudden influx of Japanese goods, such as woodcuts, woodblock prints, screens, fans, porcelain, and clothes, had a huge impact on the Western world. The flat perspective of the woodblock prints strongly influenced the formulation of Art Nouveau.
Livemont was the preeminent Belgian artist working in the field of Art Nouveau and lithography. His works were well-received and were included in Les Maîtres de l’Affiche (Masters of the Poster) publications that were published by Jules Chéret between 1896 and 1900.
Museum quality copies of “Bitter Oriental” can be purchased in many places online.
For more on Henri Privat-Livemont, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
