Eugène Samuel Grasset; born May 25, 1841, in Lausanne; died October 23, 1917, in Sceaux. Eugène Samuel Grasset studied architecture at the polytechnical school in Zurich, albeit without success. He spent time in Marseille and Egypt in 1865 and 1866 and then turned to decorative sculpture as of 1867. Grasset went to Paris in 1871, where he was successful in achieving recognition as the illustrator of the stories "Le Petit Nab" (1877) and "Histoire de quatre fils Aymon" (1883). After this, Eugène Samuel Grasset was active in all areas of applied art, including furniture design, book illustrations, and posters. He designed the facade of the Hôtel de Dumas in Paris, mosaics in Saint Etienne in Braire, stained glass windows in the cathedral at Orléans, carpet patterns, decorative iron, jewelry, calenders, postage stamps, and much more. While Eugène Samuel Grasset's illustrations are influenced mostly by Gustave Doré, his commercial artworks are modeled on Viollet-le-Duc. His works were exhibited in the Salon des Cent in 1897 and in the Salon des Artistes décorateurs im Pavillon de Marsan in 1906. In his versatility and the trends in his works, Grasset is comparable to the English reformer Walter Crane, though his works never found the same resonance.

Courtesy Art Directory