Table Of ContentA
The Nabis
Art of Century Collection
C
AbstractExpressionism Cubism PopArt
Abstraction Dadaism Post-Impressionism
AmericanScene Expressionism ThePre-Raphaelites
TheArts&CraftsMovement Fauvism Rayonnism
ArtDéco FreeFiguration Realism
ArtInformel Futurism Regionalism
ArtNouveau GothicArt RenaissanceArt
ArtePovera HudsonRiverSchool Rococo
AshcanSchool Impressionism RomanesqueArt
BaroqueArt Mannerism Romanticism
Bauhaus TheNabis RussianAvant-Garde
ByzantineArt NaiveArt SchoolofBarbizon
CamdenTownGroup Naturalism SocialRealism
T
COBRA Neoclassicism Surrealism
h
Constructivism NewRealism Symbolism
e
N
P a
ierre Bonnard was the leader of the group of post-impressionist painters who called
themselves “the Nabis,” based on the Hebrew word for “prophet”. Influenced by Odilon b
Redon, Puvis de Chavannes, popular imagery and Japanese woodblock printing, Bonnard,
i
Vuillard, Vallotton and Denis (to name the most prominent) revolutionised the spirit of
s
decorative technique during one of the richest periods in French painting.
Although the increasing individualism of their works often threatened to weaken their unity, the
Nabis were above all a group of close friends. The artwork presented in this book - varying between
Bonnard’s guilelessness, Vuillard’s ornamental and mysterious works, Denis’s soft languor and
Vallotton’s almost-bitter roughness - plunges us into the deep source of their creative gifts.
Albert Kostenevich
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Text: Albert Kostenevich
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© Parkstone Press International, New York, USA
© Confidential Concepts, worldwide, USA
© Estate Bonnard / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris
© Estate Denis / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris
© Aristide Maillol / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris
© Estate Matisse / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / Les Héritiers Matisse
© Estate Roussel / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris
© Jan Verkade
© Estate Vuillard / Artists Rights Society, New York, USA / ADAGP, Paris
All rights reserved
No part ofthis publication may be reproduced or adapted without the permission ofthe
copyright holder, throughout the world. Unless otherwise specified, copyrights on the
works reproduced lie with the respective photographers. Despite intensive research, it
has not always been possible to establish copyright ownership. Where this is the case we
would appreciate notification.
ISBN: 978-1-78042-799-7
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Albert Kostenevich
The Nabis
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Contents
The Group 7
Major Artists 61
Félix Vallotton 63
Ker Xavier Roussel 77
Pierre Bonnard 85
Édouard Vuillard 155
Maurice Denis 175
Notes 196
Bibliography 197
Index 198
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The Group
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A
lthough Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, Roussel and formed collections which at the beginning of the twentieth
Vallotton have gone down in the history of painting century ranked among the best in the world.
as artists belonging to a single group, their works, in
spite of some common features, in fact display more The name of Shchukin is probably more widely known, and
differences than similarities. They were bound together in this is not surprising: his boldness, seen by many of his
their youth by membership in a circle which bore a curious contemporaries as mere folly, soon attracted attention. He had
name — the Nabis. Art historians, who see the Nabis’ work as brought the most notable works of Henri Matisse, André
a special aspect of Post-Impressionism, have long resigned Derain and Pablo Picasso to Moscow before Paris had had
themselves to this purely conventional label. The word Nabis time to recover from the shock that they caused. Even today
says next to nothing about the aims and methods of these specialists are astonished by Shchukin’s unerring taste and
artists, but probably on account of their very diversity it has keen judgement. He proved able to appreciate Matisse and
proved impossible to replace the label by a more meaningful Picasso at a time when so-called connoisseurs still felt
term, or at least one which fits better into the established perplexed or even irritated by their paintings. The Nabis,
scheme of things. The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg however, attracted Shchukin to a lesser degree, perhaps
possesses a splendid collection of works by Bonnard and his because their work did not appear sufficiently revolutionary to
friends, and a much smaller collection of no less artistic merit him. He acquired one picture by Vuillard and several by Denis,
is housed in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. All among them the Portrait of Marthe Denis, the Artist’s Wife,
these works are presented in this book. Martha and Mary and The Visitation. Later another canvas was
added to these, Figures in a Springtime Landscape (The Sacred
An interest in Nabis painting arose very early in Russia. Grove), one of the most ambitious and successful creations of
Here, as elsewhere in Europe, it emerged not among art European Symbolism, which was passed on to Sergei Shchukin
lovers as a whole, but among a tiny group of art collectors by his elder brother Piotr. But Shchukin failed to notice
who were ahead of the general public in their appreciation Bonnard. Regarding Cézanne, Van Gogh and Gauguin as the
of new developments. Works by Bonnard, Denis and key-figures in Post-Impressionism, Shchukin — and he was
Vallotton found their way to Moscow, and later to not alone in this — saw the works of Bonnard and his friends
St. Petersburg, soon after they had been painted, some of as a phenomenon of minor importance.
them even being specially commissioned. In those days the
purchase by Russian collectors of new French painting was He did in fact make one attempt to “get into” Bonnard. In
a defiance of what was accepted as “good taste”. In contrast 1899, he bought Bonnard’s painting Fiacre at the Bernheim-
to earlier times, these new connoisseurs of painting came Jeune Gallery, but later he returned it. Today it is in the
not from the aristocracy but from the merchant class. National Gallery in Washington. Shchukin used to say that a
Several well-educated representatives of the new type of picture needed to be in his possession for some time before he
up-and-coming entrepreneurs, used to relying on their own made his final decision about it, and art dealers accepted his
judgement, also became highly active and independently- terms. The man who really appreciated the Nabis and who
minded figures in the art market. Two of them, Sergei collected their pictures over a considerable period of time was
Shchukin (1854-1937) and Ivan Morozov (1871-1921) Ivan Morozov. His taste for their work must have been
1. Paul Sérusier, The Talisman, 1888. Oil on wood, 27 x 21.5 cm. 2. Maurice Denis, Sun Patches on the Terrace, 1890.
Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Oil on cardboard, 24 x 20.5 cm. Musée d’Orsay, Paris.
8
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3. Paul Gauguin, Vision of the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel),
1888. Oil on canvas, 72.2 x 91 cm. National Galleries of Scotland, 4. Jan Verkade, Decorative Landscape, 1891-1892. Oil on canvas.
Edinburgh. Private collection.
10
