Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris 1830 - 1890

Curator: This Eugène Cicéri drawing, made with pencil on paper, is a design for a stage set at the Opéra in Paris, placing it somewhere between 1830 and 1890. Editor: Well, if I were designing the sets, this image feels a bit like a gloomy Thursday. It has this closed-in, secretive vibe from those shadowed doorways. Kind of like a building holding its breath. Curator: Shadowing definitely creates that feeling, yes. Consider the material limitations too, the reliance on pencil sketches. A stage designer would be making blueprints and sketches to then coordinate with other scenic painters and even carpenters for the construction of the actual set pieces, demonstrating the labor divisions involved. Editor: Absolutely. And thinking of that construction…it makes me wonder what sort of grand tale would unfold in front of those stern doors. What drama would be suitable for that architecture. Some clandestine rendezvous, maybe? Curator: Maybe so, that certainly fits into romantic notions associated with operatic productions. I also appreciate Cicéri’s precise observation in the architectural details but more than anything it evokes the industry of Parisian theatrical production during the period. You can almost feel the dust in the theatre based on the color choices, right? Editor: Totally get that dusty, sepia feeling. It's subtle, you know? Not bombastic opera at all, despite being created for it! Almost feels like Cicéri stumbled upon a quiet Parisian alley and decided that *this* would make for great drama! Curator: And so the materiality informs the mood, despite his choice. From Cicéri’s Romantic-era perspective to our own. Interesting. Editor: Yeah, a quiet, beautiful collision of making-of with emotional landscape... Nice moment there!