Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris 1825 - 1890

This stage set design was created by Eugène Cicéri for the Paris Opéra, using graphite and watercolor on paper. Look closely, and you will notice the faint grid underlying the depiction of trees and foliage; it is a practical tool for translating the sketch into a full-scale backdrop. The irregular sheet shows how the artistic process is not always neat, but evolves organically as the artist responds to the material at hand. Cicéri specialized in stage design. In his era, opera was a grand spectacle, a total work of art. But alongside the celebrated composers and performers was a whole ecology of labor: carpenters, seamstresses, painters, all of whom would have brought Cicéri's design to life. Stage design like this reminds us that all artistic creation is collaborative. It relies on a diversity of skills and contributions, each essential to the final production.