EUGENE GRASSET [MEDITATION.] 1897. 35x211/4 inches. Condition A-: minor foxing in margins and image; affixed to card stock at margins. Silk. Capitalizing on the poster craze sweeping through France during the fin-de-siecle, publishers began to issue large-format decorative panels designed by the best poster artists. Mucha's work was mass marketed by his printer Champenois, and Cheret's panels were printed by Chaix. Grasset's panels began in small format with two plates for L'Estampe Originale. By 1896 he was working on a series of 10 full-size panels (Estampes Decoratives) for his printer Malherbe. In these panels Grasset uses representations of women and nature to express states of mind, or moods. The influence of Japanese prints is clear including the use of flat colors and broad outlining. Unlike Mucha's sensual approach, Grasset's women, in their static poses, exert a fascinating, hypnotizing effect. Meditation is arguably Grasset's best panel, as the image of a woman lost in her thoughts in the silence of nature so perfectly reflects Grasset's style. The series was acclaimed in 1897 at the Libre Esthetique in Brussels and then at the first Secession Exhibition in Vienna. This is the only copy on silk that we know. Arwas p. 71, Murray Robertson p. 126.
![EUGENE GRASSET [MEDITATION.] 1897. 35x21 inches.](https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/full//227\550227.jpg)
