Which of the Following Was Not a Task of the French Art Group Les Nabis the Prophets?
The Fine art of Collecting: Special Report
Amsterdam Celebrates 'Prophets' of Post-Impressionism
AMSTERDAM — Paul Gauguin and many of his contemporaries were so much more than than just post-Impressionists — a term largely used to define almost every artist in French republic in the last decade of the 19th century.
Indeed, they were all grappling with the profound bear on of Impressionism. But Gauguin, for case, painted bold colors directly from the paint tube, without mixing, on flat surfaces, lacking linear perspective, with thick outlines around the figures and textured surfaces. A small grouping of painters at the Académie Julian in Paris felt this approach should be the future of art — a true heralding of artistic life after Impressionism. They followed his example, naming themselves Les Nabis, or The Prophets, because they wanted to usher in a new era of painting.
Maurice Denis, a theoretician, was the intellectual leader of the group, and in a manifesto of 1890 he reminded his compatriots that painting "is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." Other painters who supported this notion were Paul Sérusier, Édouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard, whose intense utilise of color made him perhaps the most famous in the group.
That is what unites the painters of "Gauguin, Bonnard, Denis: A Russian Taste for French Art," an exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam that explores the work and legacy of Les Nabis. The show brings together works from 2 cardinal collections amassed by the Russian collectors Ivan Morozov and Sergei Shchukin, who were scooping up art in Paris while Les Nabis were in vogue.
About lxx paintings and a handful of sculptures tell the story of this short-lived klatch of artists who may take, in fact, ushered in the side by side era of art. In add-on to three major works past Gauguin, the show includes important paintings from the era, including Bonnard's monumental triptych "Méditerranée" (1911), an interior from a room in a mansion by Denis, as well as work by other acolytes like Félix Vallotton, Aristide Maillol and Théophile Steinlen.
"It'south oftentimes said that Les Nabis were the announcement of Fine art Deco and Art Nouveau," said Paul Mosterd, the deputy director of the Hermitage Amsterdam, who helped curate the exhibition. "They were rebellious, totally fed up with the success of Impressionism and getting bored. They believed in trusting your ain senses, beingness individual, being arrogant, saying 'we can practice better."'
Calling themselves prophets was something of an inside joke, Mr. Mosterd explained, because these artists did non take themselves quite so seriously. Merely the Hermitage'south curator of exhibitions, Vincent Boele, says they did, in fact, usher in a new era of painting.
"You could see them as the prophets of modern art," Mr. Boele said. "They were some of the outset modernistic painters who tried to paint according to a theory — that painting is a apartment surface covered by colors. That was one step below abstract painting, which was later developed past people like Picasso and Braque."
Les Nabis, according to Mr. Mosterd, were the nearly influential artists of the beginning of the 20th century. "What do you exercise afterwards Impressionism if you want to find a new manner? That'south an unbelievable task, only they managed," he said. "They establish this very colorful and decorative manner, painting on very flat surfaces and using color, colour, color."
The grouping of young painters attracted the attention of Morozov, a Russian textile millionaire who spent a neat deal of time in Paris and bought art there throughout the Impressionist and mail-Impressionist period and imported them to his palaces in Russian federation.
Morozov was peculiarly fascinated by Denis and in 1908 he commissioned the painter to decorate the concert hall in his Moscow mansion. The resulting piece of work, "The Story of Cupid and Psyche," depicting scenes from the Latin love story by Apuleius in bold pastel colors, includes seven paintings and vi decorative panels. The unabridged interior has been reassembled and installed in the Hermitage Amsterdam equally it was in Morozov's abode. Later on the October Revolution of 1917, Morozov fled Russian federation with his family and his collection was confiscated; Denis's paintings were removed from the mansion in 1948, and rolled up and stored until the 1990s, when they were exhibited in the Country Hermitage. This is the first time since they were in Morozov's mansion that they are being presented exactly every bit Denis designed them for the room, in a fully reconstructed setting.
Morozov was also an avid collector of Bonnard's works, buying some of his finest paintings, including "Landscape in Dauphiné" and "Railroad train and Barges," and commissioning the triptych "Méditerranée," a view of a bucolic garden on a warm solar day, which is considered to be one of the great decorative paintings of the early 20th century.
For his role, Shchukin was also a fan of Denis, but he paid fiddling attention to Bonnard. His purchases included works by Nabis artists who had more of a Symbolist bent, like Firmin Maglin, Alfred Guillou, Gaston La Touche, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Eugène Carrière.
Gauguin never counted himself among Les Nabis, simply he is oft idea of as their inspirational leader. The exhibition includes iii of his nearly famous canvasses, including the iconic image of ii women in Tahiti seated on the ground eating fruit, "Sacred Spring: Sweet Dreams (Nave Nave Moe)" (1894).
The artworks from Morozov and Shchukin are on loan to Amsterdam from the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
Works from both collections will be presented equally office of a permanent exhibition of paintings from the late 19th century until the present, in a new wing being built opposite the Winter Palace. "Information technology's quite infrequent that nosotros got this collection correct now," Mr. Boele said. "Many of these painting volition go into that new wing and they won't leave Russia for at to the lowest degree the next x years."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/arts/international/amsterdam-celebrates-prophets-of-post-impressionism.html?mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C%7B%221%22%3A%22RI%3A8%22%7D
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