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

Curator: Standing before us is "Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris," an intriguing drawing and print crafted between 1830 and 1890, likely by Eugène Cicéri. Editor: It’s got this wistful, almost fragile quality, doesn't it? Like a half-remembered dream. The way the trees are sketched – so delicate. Curator: Absolutely. And note the underlying grid – it suggests precision, yet the landscape itself evokes a romantic naturalism. Observe how the artist used pencil to create both structure and ethereal effects, contrasting defined edges with hazy textures. Editor: Those stark grid lines impose this...artificial constraint. Stage design, of course. The artifice of theatre meeting nature head-on, wouldn't you say? Is that what gives it that interesting tension? Like it is fighting something real, or an impression of the real. Curator: Precisely! Think of the Opera at that time, a place of grand illusion. The drawing presents a constructed ideal. It serves as a blueprint for bringing manufactured wilderness to the stage, transforming the viewers reality. Editor: The sketch also has that lovely unfinished quality. You see right through to its bones, this underlying structure. It reminds me, in a strange way, that even illusion has its own architecture. You just perceive art as the performance, when that is never only the case. There is the scaffolding, if you want to go look. Curator: True, and the lack of human figures invites contemplation, allowing us to inhabit that potential landscape. It highlights the interplay between nature, stagecraft, and illusion in a manner that captivates even today. The lack of details leaves the space for our ideas. Editor: It's like peeking behind the curtain, but finding another kind of magic there, isn't it? So lovely, I find I feel drawn to explore the spaces within the artwork myself. I almost want to complete it, but it may say so much because it is not complete, and it is very interesting to me how Cicéri was doing so with the stage. Curator: A beautiful way to conclude, leaving much to think about regarding manufactured spaces.