Les Maitres de l'Affiche Plate 18 was issued in 1896. The poster first appeared in 1891 promoting the "department" store A LA PLACE CLICHY, the premiere house in the world for imported Oriental rugs. Eugène Samuel Grasset (25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) was a Swiss decorative artist who worked in Paris, France in a variety of creative design fields during the Belle Époque. He is considered a pioneer in Art Nouveau design.In 1877 Eugène Grasset turned to graphic design, producing income-generating products such as postcards and eventually postage stamps for both France and Switzerland. However, it was poster art that quickly became his forté. Some of his works became part of the Maîtres de l'Affiche. Enormously successful, today the Maîtres de l'Affiche works are as rare as the original large format images and much in demand by collectors from around the world.