Eugène Samuel Grasset (; 25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) was a Swiss decorative artist who worked in
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in a variety of creative design fields during the
Belle Époque
The Belle Époque () or La Belle Époque () was a period of French and European history that began after the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 and continued until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Occurring during the era of the Fr ...
. He is considered a pioneer in
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...
design.
Biography
Grasset was born in
Lausanne, Switzerland on 25 May 1845. He was raised in an artistic environment as the son of a cabinetmaker and sculptor who taught him at an early age how to use the chisel and the gouge. He studied drawing under
Francois-Louis David Bocion (1828–1890) and in 1861 went to
Zürich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
to study architecture. After completing his education, he visited
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, an experience that would later be reflected in a number of his
poster
A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
designs. He became an admirer of
Japanese art
Japanese art consists of a wide range of art styles and media that includes Jōmon pottery, ancient pottery, Japanese sculpture, sculpture, Ink wash painting, ink painting and Japanese calligraphy, calligraphy on silk and paper, Ukiyo-e, paint ...
, which influenced some of his designs as well.
Between 1869 and 1870, Grasset worked as a theater painter and sculptor in Lausanne. Here he met
Viollet le Duc, whose reflection on the Middle Ages and the method advocating the link between form, function and material came to permeate Grasset's work. In 1871 he moved to Paris and he started to design furniture, wallpapers, fabrics, and tapestries as well as ceramics and jewelry. He created architectural elements of woodwork that were integrated into buildings. His fine art decorative pieces were crafted from ivory, gold, and other precious materials in unique combinations, and his creations are considered a cornerstone of Art Nouveau motifs and patterns.
In 1877 Eugène Grasset turned to graphic design, producing income-generating products such as postcards and eventually postage stamps for both France and Switzerland. It was
poster
A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
art, based on the work of Viollet le Duc, that quickly became his ''forte''. Some of his works became part of the
Maîtres de l'Affiche, including his lithograph, "''Jeanne d'Arc Sarah Bernhardt''". In 1890, he designed the "Semeuse who spreads seeds of
dandelion" logo used by the dictionary publishers,
Éditions Larousse. Grasset's commercial work would be based ''on the drawings of Viollet le Duc.''
With the growing popularity of French posters in the United States, Grasset was soon contacted by several American companies. In the 1880s, he did his first American commission and more success led to his cover design for the 1892 Christmas issue of
Harper's Magazine
''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...
. In 1894 he created "The Wooly Horse" and "The Sun of Austerlitz" for ''
The Century Magazine'' to help advertise their serialized story on the life of
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
. The "Wooly Horse" image proved so popular that
Louis Comfort Tiffany recreated it in stained glass. Grasset's work for U.S. institutions helped pave the way for Art Nouveau to dominate American art.
Grasset taught design at the École Guérin from 1890 to 1903, at the École d’Art graphique in the rue Madame from 1903 to 1904, at the
Académie de la Grande Chaumière from 1904 to 1913, and at the
École Estienne in Paris. Grasset had freely adapted the alphabet of
Nicolas Jenson
Nicholas (or Nicolas) Jenson (c. 1420–1480) was a French engraver, pioneer, printer and type designer who carried out most of his work in Venice, Italy. Jenson acted as Master of the French Royal Mint at Tours and is credited with being the cr ...
(1471) with the intention of using it to print a book on his own method for ornamental composition, inspired by the courses he gave to the Guérin school.
Georges Peignot acquired Grasset's alphabet and obtained an official patent on 7 October 1897 for the
typeface
A typeface (or font family) is a design of Letter (alphabet), letters, Numerical digit, numbers and other symbols, to be used in printing or for electronic display. Most typefaces include variations in size (e.g., 24 point), weight (e.g., light, ...
under the name, "''Grasset''". He then gave Henri Parmentier, the workshop's punchcutter, the mission to engrave it.
In 1896 he published a dissertation on the use of plants in designs, that featured images of designs prepared by his students. Among his students were
Paul Berthon, Georges Bourgeot,
Paul Follot, Marcelle Gaudin,
Augusto Giacometti,
Arsène Herbinier, Anna Martin,
Mathurin Méheut, Juliette Milési, Otto Ernst Schmidt, Auguste Silice,
Maurice Pillard Verneuil, Aline Poitevin, Pierre Selmersheim,
Tony Selmersheim, Camille Gabriel Schlumberger,
Eliseu Visconti, and
Philippe Wolfers
At the
Universal Exhibition of 1900 in Paris, the
G. Peignot et Fils typefoundry introduced the
"Grasset" typeface, an Italic design created by Eugène Grasset in 1898 for use on some of his posters. Additionally, Grasset collaborated with jeweler
Henri Vever, showcasing works such as the intricate 'Hercules' pendant, praised for its detailed artistry and mythological inspiration.
Grasset died in 1917 in
Sceaux in the
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...
département, southwest of Paris.
File:Grasset - Drei Frauen und drei Wölfe.jpg, Grasset poster, ''Drei Frauen und drei Wölfe'', c. 1892.
File:Eugène Grasset - La Vitrioleuse.jpg, ''La Vitrioleuse'' ("The Acid Thrower"), 1894, lithograph with hand-stencilled colours, for '' L'Estampe originale''
File:Grasset - Sarah-Bernhardt.jpg, Sarah Bernhardt
Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...
as Jeanne d'Arc
File:Paris illustré, "La danse" MET DP-1129-01.jpg, ''La danse'', Issue no. 59 of ''Paris illustré'', published 1887.
File:Eugène Grasset - A La Place Clichy.jpg, ''A La Place Clichy'' by Grasset, c. 1891
Exhibitions
*
Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts,
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
, 2011.
See also
*
Georges Peignot made the typeface, ''Grasset'', at his foundry
*
''Grasset'' typeface
*
Samantha Littlefield Huntley, one of his students
Citations
General and cited references
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grasset, Eugene
1845 births
1917 deaths
19th-century Swiss artists
20th-century Swiss artists
Academic staff of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Art Nouveau designers
Art Nouveau illustrators
Artists from Lausanne
Belle Époque
Swiss emigrants to France
Swiss magazine illustrators
19th-century Swiss illustrators
20th-century Swiss illustrators
Swiss poster artists
Swiss stamp designers