?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
EUGENE GRASSET (1841-1917) LE MOIS. Calendar with 12 sheets. Circa 1894. 12 1/2x9 1/2 inches. G. De Malherbe, Paris. Condition A: minor foxing and discoloration along edges. In original paper folio cover. 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. Both Arwas and Murray Robertson date this calendar to 1896, but it was offered in the May 15, 1894 issue of La Plume, (which was dedicated to Grasset's work), thus making the calendar two years older than previously thought. The images are perfect examples of Grasset's style, mixing symbolist women with the flowers of gardens that change with the seasons. Grasset spent nearly 20 years of his career working for La Belle Jardiniere, the Parisian department store. In 1899 he designed a second calendar for them (which La Plume offered for sale for 2.5 francs), and another in 1904. Murray Robertson also reproduces two projects for unrealized calendars in 1914 and 1915. (p. 100). Arwas p. 26-28 (var), Anne Murray Robertson p. 123 (var).
