POSTER AND STAINED GLASS WINDOW

Establishing himself as one of the leading exponents of Art Nouveau, Eugène Grasset made his stylistic mark in all fields of decoration and played his part in abolishing the traditional distinction between the fine arts and the so-called minor arts. At the turn of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, with Jules Chéret, Alphonse Mucha and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Eugène Grasset was one of the masters of poster art. This was the period in which the poster gained huge popularity as an art form, prompted by France’s increasingly liberal economy and progress in printing techniques, notably lithography.

 

Eugène Grasset worked in every field of publicity except the political poster. Les Arts Décoratifs has 129 of his posters in its collection, advertising either products (Cycles et automobiles, Abricotine délicieuse liqueur, Dépôt de chocolat Masson), or cultural events such as a publication, exhibition or stage production (Nouveau Larousse illustré en six volumes, Salon des Cent, Société des artistes décorateurs, Suzy Deguez dans ses danses d’art).

In posters such as Le Salon des Cent, Eugène Grasset’s use of flat colour and forms outlined in black is similar to stained glass, for which he also produced designs. La matinée de printemps, on display in Room 44, was the result of his collaboration with the painter and master glazier Félix Gaudin (1851-1930).