See more objects with the tag clouds, public, trees, clients, sky, musicians.

Object Timeline

2013

2015

2024

  • You found it!

Cover, Cover for music score of Massenet's Enchantment

This is a Cover. It was designed by Eugène Samuel Grasset and published by Heugel & Cie., Paris. It is dated ca. 1890 and we acquired it in 2013. Its medium is chromotypography on paper, faded. It is a part of the Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design department.

This cover for the musical score of Jules Massenet’s Enchantement was designed by Eugène Samuel Grasset in 1892. The song, composed by Massenet and set to a poem by Jules Ruelle, was featured in Massanet’s opera Herodiade, a retelling of the biblical story of Salome based on Gustave Flaubert’s short story written in 1877. For his lyrical design, Grasset drew directly on the imagery described in Ruelle’s poem, depicting an elegant enchantress with raised arms basking in the glow of the moon directly behind her. With the wand in her right hand, the enchantress conjures two disembodied heads, which appear to materialize out of the lunar glow. The cover for Enchantement is among Grasset’s most overt uses of traditional Symbolist imagery. It was included in his Salon des Cent exhibition in 1894, and appears to have served as direct inspiration for subsequent work by both Aubrey Beardsley and Alphonse Maria Mucha.

It is credited Gift of Harry C. Sigman.

Its dimensions are

H x W: 33 x 25.4 cm (13 x 10 in.)

Cite this object as

Cover, Cover for music score of Massenet's Enchantment; Designed by Eugène Samuel Grasset (Swiss, 1841 – 1917; active Paris, France 1871–1917); Published by Heugel & Cie., Paris; France; chromotypography on paper, faded; H x W: 33 x 25.4 cm (13 x 10 in.); Gift of Harry C. Sigman; 2013-21-48

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian’s Terms of Use page.

For higher resolution or commercial use contact ArtResource.

If you would like to cite this object in a Wikipedia article please use the following template:

<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/51685251/ |title=Cover, Cover for music score of Massenet's Enchantment |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=27 April 2024 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>