Nabis (art)

[8] The Nabis were a group of young artists of the Académie Julian in Paris, who wanted to transform the foundations of art.

It was titled The Impressionist and Synthesist Group, and included works by two well-known artists, Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard.

Writing under the name Pierre Louis, he wrote an article in the journal Art et Critique entitled The Definition of Neo-traditionalism, which became the manifesto of the movement.

The celebrated opening line of the essay was: "Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a female nude or some sort of anecdote, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order."

[9] The following year, in 1891, three of the Nabis, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis, took a studio at 28 rue Pigalle in Paris.

It was frequented by other early Nabis, including Ker-Xavier Roussel and Paul Sérusier, as well as journalists and figures from the theatrical and literary world.

Paul Ranson, assisted by Sérusier, Bonnard, and Vuillard, designed sets for a theatrical presentation of the Bateau ivre of the poet Arthur Rimbaud.

Maurice Denis made costumes and sets for another theatrical production, the Trilogy d'Antoina at the Théatre Moderne, and also painted a ceiling for the residence of the art collector and painter Henry Lerolle.

et M.P., signifying En ta paume, mon verbe et ma pensée ("In your palm, my word and my thoughts").

For one series of four paintings created in 1890–91, The Women in the Garden, now in the Musée d'Orsay, Bonnard adapted a Japanese format called kakemono with a narrow vertical canvas.

[12] The theme of women in a garden, stylistically adapted from Japanese prints, appeared in the work of other Nabis, including Maurice Denis and Paul Sérusier.

He often painted scenes and themes taken from the Bible, but with the figures in modern costume, in simplified landscapes and surrounded by light, a symbol of faith.

In 1895, he received a commission for a series of seven large paintings called The Legend of Saint Hubert for the Paris home of Baron Cochin.

[13] Paul Sérusier painted less Christian and more mystical scenes, particularly La Vision pros du torrent or The rendezvous of fairies (1897), showing a group of women in Breton costumes passing through the forest, carrying bouquets of flowers to a ceremony, and Femmes à la Source, depicting a series of women solemnly descending through a mystical forest to a spring.

[13] The Nabis Pierre Bonnard, Félix Vallotton and Édouard Vuillard created particularly remarkable paintings depicting the interiors of homes, where the inhabitants of the rooms were almost entirely absorbed into the intense floral decoration and furnishings.

However, the artists of the Nabis circle were highly influenced by the paintings of the Impressionists, and thus while sharing the flatness, page layout, and negative space of art nouveau and other decorative modes, much of Les Nabis' art has a painterly, non-realistic look, with color palettes reminiscent of Cézanne and Gauguin.

Their final exhibition as a group took place in 1900 at the Galerie Bernheim, with works of Bonnard, Denis, Ibels, Maillol, Roussel, Sérusier, Vallotton and Vuillard.