From Monet to Warhol - 3: Japonisme, Nabis

From Manet to Warhol - Japonisme, Nabis

at the Goulandris Foundation, Athens.

This is the third post on this exhibition. You can see the first few posts here and here . If you don't want to read the introduction again go down to first photograph.

A wonderful exhibition, which gave me great pleasure. Firstly because it was great seeing paintings that I had seen before and loved. Secondly because some of it was new to me, and this includes artists I had not come across before, Maurice Denis, for example.

The ensemble of eighty three works of forty five artists, mostly paintings,  which is on loan from the Swiss private collection, was assembled over three generations, affording us the opportunity to retrace the history of modern art from the 1880s until the present day.

Most of the major movements, currents and trends that have marked the evolution of painting are touched upon here in varying degrees of detail: Impressionism, Symbolism, Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Japonisme, Synthetism, the Nabis, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. They reflect the increasing changes imposed on perspective, colour and figuration, as well as the historical context in which they were conceived.

Japonisme:

The generic term of Japonisme includes all of the influences that affected French, then Western art after the development of trade between Europe and Japan starting in the second half of the 19th century. Fascinated by ukiyo-e, the artists were inspired by this unaccustomed approach to form, perspective and colour and integrated it into their work, each in his or her own manner. This is particularly visible in the work of Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh as well as the whole Neo-Impressionist group and the Nabis.

 Paul Ranson, Tiger

For this drawing Paul Ranson was inspired by Kitagawa Utamaro's Tiger in the Bamboos. He respected the precepts of ukiyo-e by ignoring perspective and depth, but introduced a series of sinuous lines amid which the graceful silhouette of the tiger unfurls.

Edouard Vuillard, Seascape (Saint-Jacut), 1909, (blue-bound distemper on paper mounted on canvas)

Maurice Denis

When Denis participated in the creation of the Nabis group, he was barely 18 years old. Two years later he became their theoretician and was not reluctant to incorporate into his painting scenes that evoked travel, the original paradise and the fantastic, with a confirmed sense of modernity.

Maurice Denis, Legend of Chivalry (Three Young Princesses), 1893, (oil on canvas)

For this oil painting, strongly influenced by Japanese woodcut prints and more particularly by Parody of God Juro by Yashima Gakutei, Denis produced a reinterpretation of the Middle Ages. The garden that irresistibly recalls Millefleur tapestries is enlivened by three facets of his wife Marthe and two knights arriving at a gallop.

Maurice Denis, The Cook, 1893, (oil on canvas)

A devout Catholic, Denis reinterpreted here a biblical episode in which Jesus pays a visit to Martha and Mary's house. Denis entrusted the latter role to his wife Martha, whom he had recently married and who was to become thereafter his principal model. Influenced by Japanese woodcut prints, he simplified the forms and used thick contours for a composition that faithfully transcribed the Nabis' frame of mind.

Pierre Bonnard

Scene from the South of France.

Pierre Bonnard, Anchorage, 1929.

This ostensibly simple work is based on horizontals and as such gives us the sensation of limitless space, stabilised solely by the graphic motif of the guardrail.

Felix Vallotton, Rising Ride, Houlgate, 1913, (oil on canvas)

Large flat patches of colour that follow on from each other without attempting to create the illusion of depth.

Felix Vallotton, Evening, Honfleur or Peace and Quiet, 1909, (oil on canvas)

Nabis:

Around 1888 a group of young friends decided to create an unofficial artistic movement and christened themselves Nabis. Spurred on by Paul Serusier's painting The Talisman, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Buillard, Maurice Denis, Paul Ranson, Felix Vallotton and George Lacombe among others, united to form a group.

Influenced by Paul Gauguin, the Nabis intended to liberate painting from all naturalist restraints, to express their inner life and their feelings in the face of nature without trying to copy it. They had a great admiration for Japanese art, ukiyo-e in particular.

Felix Vallotton, Still Life with Blue Plate, 1922, (oil on canvas)

Under the pretence of a still life that united several banal objects, Vallotton turned his gaze on his youthful aspirations: his love of literature, for he was also a novelist, his admiration for 17th century Dutch masters, his adoration of nature and the refinement of porcelain manufactured in both Japan and Delft.

Paul Serusier, The Feast of Corpus Christi at Huelgoat, 1891-93, (tempera on canvas)

This is one of my favourite paintings in this collection. Serusier was influenced by Gauguin, in particular that of detaching from the real, but he was also inspired by his passion for ukiyo-e art.

Georges Lacombe, The Bay of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 1902-4, (oil on canvas)

P.S.   

Ukiyo-e:

Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings. The term ukiyo-e translates as 'picture(s) of the floating world'. 

Earliest ukiyo-e works emerged in the 1670s. Colour prints were introduced gradually, and at first were only used for special commissions. By the 1740s, artists used multiple woodblocks to print areas of colour. By the 1760s full-colour production became standard, with ten or more blocks used to create each print.

Ukiyo-e was central to forming the West's perception of Japanese art in the late 19th century, particularly the landscape of Hokusai and Hiroshige. From the 1870s, Japonisme became a prominent trend and had a strong influence on the early French Impressionists such as Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet and Claude Monet, as well as influencing Post-Impressionists such as Vincent Van Gogh, and Art Nouveau artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

From Monet to Warhol - 2: Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism

From Monet to Warhol: Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism

at the Goulandris Foundation, Athens.

This is the second post on this exhibition. You can see the first post here . As always, I am including the introduction in this second post - if you don't want to read it again, go down to the first picture.

A wonderful exhibition, which gave me great pleasure. Firstly because it was great seeing paintings that I had seen before and loved. Secondly because some of it was new to me, and this includes artists I had not come across before.

The ensemble of eighty three works of forty five artists, mostly paintings,  which is on loan from a Swiss private collection, was assembled over three generations, affording us the opportunity to retrace the history of modern art from the 1880s until the present day.

Most of the major movements, currents and trends that have marked the evolution of painting are touched upon here in varying degrees of detail: Impressionism, Symbolism, Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Japonisme, Synthetism, the Nabis, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. They reflect the increasing changes imposed on perspective, colour and figuration, as well as the historical context in which they were conceived.

Neo-Impressionism:

The 8th Impressionist exhibition of 1886 marked both the end of this shared adventure and its renewal through the contribution of young artists with a different vision. On that occasion, Georges Seurat exhibited his monumental A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, the very first Neo-Impressionist work as it was designated by Felix Feneon. He was joined in this initiative by Paul Signac, along with Camille and Lucien Pissaro.

Numerous other artists became affiliated with the movement and following the untimely death of Seurat, it was Signac who became the head.

Paul Signac, Avignon, Morning

Paul Signac, Saint-Tropez, After the Storm, 1895, (oil on canvas)

Paul Signac, Asnieres

Paul Signac, Clichy Wharf

In 1887, Signac embarked upon a series of works characteristic of his first Divisionist period. Similar to dots, his brush marks precisely depict the Clichy Wharf.

Paul Signac, Juan-les-Pins, Evening, 1914

Two versions of this work, a preparatory ink study on cardboard, and the subsequent oil painting.

Paul Signac, Saint-Tropez, Place des Lices, 1905, (watercolour enhanced with pen and ink on paper)

Paul Signac, Still Life (Composition with Lemons), 1918, (watercolour on paper)

Henri-Edmond Cross, Cap Negre

Henri-Edmond Cross 

Maximilien Luce, The Coffee, 1892, (oil on canvas)

Here Luce treated a subject he was partial to, that of the life of the working class, and painted a contemporary genre painting.

Maximilien Luce, The Steelworks, 1899, (oil on canvas)

Maximilien Luce, Quai de l'Ecole, Paris, Evening, 1889, (oil on canvas)

Louis Hayet, two small oil paintings, conceived as pendants.

Achile Lauge,  Tree in Blossom

Leon Pourtau, Beach Scene

Beach scene was plainly inspired  by the emblematic A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat. The suburban idyll imaged by Seurat has been transposed here to a beach in Normandy.

Lucien Pissarro, Gouvernes, near Lagny, 1888, (oil on canvas)

Theo van Rysselberghe, Canal in Flanders in Gloomy Weather, 1894, (oil on canvas)

Theo van Rysselberghe, Kalf's Mill, 1894, (oil on canvas)

Post-Impressionism:

The term Post-Impressionism characterises a period of modern art rather than any precise artistic movement. Coined by Roger Fry in 1910, it served to designate all the avant-garde trends that were developing in parallel in Paris on the margins of the gradual dissolution of the Impressionist group.

Paul Gauguin, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh are today the most illustrious Post-Impressionists. By expanding the horizons opened by their predecessors, they laid claim to a subjectivity in their painting that ignored all convention. 

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, The Clowness at the Moulin-Rouge, 1897, (lithograph in crayon, pencil and splatter, printed in six colours)

Paul Gauguin, Words of the Devil, 1894, (monotype heightened with watercolour and gouache on Simili Japon paper)

Louis Anquetin,  Interior of Bruant's club: The Mirliton, 1886-87, (oil on canvas)

Among the numerous venues enlivening Parisian nightlife, Louis Anquetin chose to represent the Mirliton, the notorious cabaret founded by Aristide Bruant. Here he gathered together, from left ro right, Francois Gauzi, Emile Bernard, Marie Valette, Louis Weber, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Marcel Legay and Bruant himself.

Louis Valtat, Mothers at the Bois de Bouloghe, 1903, (oil on canvas)

Louis Anquetin, 1887

In 1887 Anquetin's style developed radically. Forms were simplified, flat patches of bold colours were outlined in thick black contours that evoke  both Medieval stained glass and enamels as well as Japanese woodcut prints. He influenced Vincent van Gogh, who drew inspiration from this composition for his Terrace of a Cafe at Night at Arles in 1888.

From Monet to Warhol - 1: Impressionism

From Monet to Warhol  1,  Impressionism

at the Goulandris Foundation, Athens.

A wonderful exhibition, which gave me great pleasure. Firstly because it was great seeing paintings that I had seen before and loved. Secondly because some of it was new to me, and this includes artists I had not come across before.

The ensemble of eighty three works of forty five artists, mostly paintings,  which is on loan from a Swiss private collection, was assembled over three generations, affording us the opportunity to retrace the history of modern art from the 1880s until the present day.

Most of the major movements, currents and trends that have marked the evolution of painting are touched upon here: Impressionism, Symbolism, Neo-Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Japonisme, Synthetism, the Nabis, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. They reflect the increasing changes imposed on perspective, colour and figuration, as well as the historical context in which they were conceived.

Impressionism:

In 1873 a group of young artists mounted their first exhibition in Paris. The critic Louis Leroy came up with the pejorative term 'Impressionism' to refer to them. The group included Berthe Morisot, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. 

The movement is characterised by: visible brushstrokes; open composition; emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time); ordinary subject matter;  unusual visual angles; and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.

Camille Pissaro, Delafolie Brick Kiln at Eragny, 1888, (oil on canvas)

Camille Pissarro, The  Flock of Sheep, Eragny, 1888, (oil on canvas)

Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1914, (oil on canvas)

In 1899 Monet started painting the vast water garden that he designed and in the middle of which reigned supremely his celebrated water lilies. This version announced the large panel that he created expressly for the space at the Orangeries des Tuileries museum.

Edgar Degas, The Laundresses, 1902-04, (charcoal and stump on tracing paper)

Charles Angrand, Maternity, 1896, (conte crayon on paper)

Georges Seurat, The Artist's Mother, 1882, (conte crayon on paper)

Berthe Morisot, Girl with Fan, 1893, (oil on canvas)

Berthe Morisot, Girl with a Cat, 1892, (oil on canvas)