C. Bechstein Pianos

Louis John Rhead American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 690

Rhead's advertisement for C. Bechstein pianos exemplifies the artist's art nouveau style, defined by flat planes of unmodulated color punctuated by fine details. It features a woman wearing a laurel crown playing a piano emblazoned with the advertiser's name as a choir of winged angels hovers above, invoking associations between music and Greek mythology that are part of a long artistic tradition in the West. A text box at lower right that lists the company's royal patrons attests to Bechstein's popularity among the court and upper class clients in Europe in the 1890s.

C. Bechstein Pianos, Louis John Rhead (American (born England), Etruria 1857–1926 Amityville, New York), Lithograph and relief

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