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Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,000
EUGENE GRASSET (1841-1917) BELLE JARDINIERE. Calendar with 12 sheets. 1896. Each approximately 9 1/4x7 1/8 inches, 24x18 cm. G. de Malherbe, Paris. Conditions vary, generally A- / B+: restored punch holes and restoration in top margins. In the early 1890s, Grasset began experimenting with a new form of printing, Chromotypography, an early form of photolithography, which was invented by one of his friends, Firmin Gillot. This calendar was printed in "Gillotage," from wood engravings. Grasset designed this calendar in 1894, and it was issued without text (just the names of the months) as a decorative graphic. In 1896, the images were used by the Paris department store, La Belle Jardiniere, with the store's name, address and calendars completely filled in on all the sheets. The images are perfect examples of Grasset's style, mixing symbolist women with gardens that change with the seasons. The women's dresses bear the zodiac sign for the month as part of there decorative pattern. Grasset spent nearly 20 years working for La Belle Jardiniere. He also designed calendars for them in 1899 and 1904. In addition, Murray Robertson reproduces two projects for unrealized calendars in 1914 and 1915. (p. 100). Arwas p. 26-28, Murray Robertson p. 123.
