The Nabi Group: Prophets of the New Art of the Late 19th Century

In April 2019, five years ago, I visited two fascinating exhibitions in Paris dedicated to the Na’vi movement. One, at the Musée Dorsa , focused on the flagship painting of the Na’vi group, “The Amulet” by Srouzier, which is part of the museum’s permanent collection, and its connections to other paintings. The other, at the Musée Luxembourg, focused on the activities of the Na’vi group members in the field of design.

Le "Talisman" de Sérusier, une prophétie de la couleur (“Serozia’s “Talisman”, a prophecy of color)
Exhibition from 29 January to 2 June 2019 at the Musée d'Orsay

Les Nabis et le decor. Vuillard, Bonnard, Maurice Denis (The Nabi and Decoration Group. Viar, Bonnard, Maurice Denis)
Exposition du 13 mars au 30 juin 2019 au Musée du Luxembourg

Visiting these exhibitions was particularly experiential and shed light on the original, fierce movement that, although it lasted only about a decade, conquered new territories, broke new ground and caused a real turning point in the history of art. You can always see the paintings of the members of the Nabi in various museums, even if they are not grouped in dedicated exhibitions: the Musée Dorsé and the Petit Palais, in the heart of Paris, permanently house many works by the Nabi (details later in the article). The Musée Maurice Denis, near Paris, the Musée Bonnard near Cannes and the Musée Pont-Aven in Brittany are particularly associated with this movement (we will see why in a moment).

Who are the members of the Na'vi?

The Nabi Group, from Nabi in Hebrew, was organized in 1888 as an avant-garde post-impressionist movement that sought to break free from the shackles of realistic and impressionist painting and discover a new art. The name Nabi expresses the desire of its members for creative renewal and spiritual ascension.

“We wanted to present ourselves as members of a secret society under inspiration, accustomed to the enthusiasm of prophets,” Maurice Denny would later explain. Prophecy, outpouring, expression: the Hebrew root confirms the choice of word. Don’t the words of the prophets burst forth, springing forth like a surging spring, expressing new tidings based on what already exists, with a mysterious spirit hovering over them and guiding them?

Young painters with a sense of humor, both towards themselves personally and towards their movement in general, the “prophets” forged friendly bonds around their art for about ten years until they each went their separate ways in 1900. Paul Gauguin’s departure for Tahiti a year later contributed to the dissolution of the association, but even after they separated as a movement, the Nabi artists continued to maintain courageous ties.

An example of their exemplary friendship is the establishment of the Ranson Academy in 1908. Starting in 1898, Paul-Aly Ranson's health and financial situation began to deteriorate. Paul Srouzier, Edouard Viard, Car-Casavier Roussel, and Maurice Denis came to his aid and founded an art academy, naming it after him and entrusting it with his management. After his death in 1909, his wife continued to manage the successful academy, while the prophetic members continued to teach there and glorify its name.

The birth of the Nabi movement

The group was founded on admiration for Paul Gauguin. In the summer of 1888, Paul Srouzier, a young twenty-three-year-old realist painter, met Gauguin in the town of Pont-Aven in Brittany.

Paul Gauguin, Pont-Aven, Woman and Child. Source: Wikiart

During this period, Gauguin, who was then forty years old, under the influence of his friend Émile Bernard, who was twenty years his junior, changed his style to lean towards abstraction, which was expressed in the separation of colors between clear and demarcated areas of color. This is the advice Gauguin gave his friend Émile Schuffenecker, in a letter dated August 14, 1888:

Do not copy too much from nature, art is abstraction, draw it from nature while dreaming in front of it and being more concerned with the creation than the result. This is the only way to ascend to God and imitate our sublime teacher, the creator.

Srouzier showed the maestro a painting of ferns from his brush. Gauguin was impressed and arranged a meeting with him the next day, in a magical and authentic grove, adorned with the mystical aura of Breton legends , above the city, along the Aven River. The grove is called Le Bois d'Amour, literally, "the grove of love." This meeting will remain in the history of art as "the lesson in painting." Thus Gauguin told Srouzier:

How do you see these trees? Yellow? Really yellow? Feel free to use the most beautiful yellow you have. And this shadow? Do you see it as blue? Feel free to paint it as blue as possible. And the leaves? Red? Go ahead, paint them bright red.

A true story or an invention by Maurice Denis, the theorist of the Nabi group, to emphasize the connection to the respected maestro? Either way, Gauguin encouraged his student to follow his senses and imagination and to present reality as his heart desires. What would guide the painter's eye would not be nature but his subjective feeling and personal vision. The younger generation of painters grew tired of Impressionism, whose time, in their opinion, was over, and were interested in the innovations of Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard.

The painters’ choice of Pont-Aven, literally “Bridge on the Stone,” changed the fate of the remote village. It attracted them with its pristine nature, its wild landscape, and its rocky shore. Exoticism within France . The abandoned settlement in the Finistere region, literally “the end of the world,” became a thriving and vibrant painters’ town, the end could also be a threshold. Inexpensive hostels welcomed guests, art supply stores and galleries opened with the encouragement of the municipality, which allowed alcohol to be sold until a later hour than usual (ten in the evening), and the locals willingly agreed to serve as models.

The Pont-Aven School (L'École de Pont-Aven), a community that united painters of different styles from different countries, especially from the United States, England, and Poland, burst onto the world scene. A new page in the history of art was opened in Pont-Aven. Two paintings, one by Emile Bernard, the other by Paul Gauguin, would profoundly influence the Nauvoo painters. A third painting, by Paul Srouzier, would serve as their founding manifesto.

Emile Bernard’s painting, “The Pardon” (Le pardon), 1888, shows a group of Breton figures on grass. The title of the painting, “The Pardon,” refers to a Christian ceremony, especially common in Brittany, in honor of the patron saint of the locality where it is celebrated. The ceremony includes a mass, a pilgrimage to a holy place, following a fixed route, in a procession, and a popular festival.

Emile Bernard, Forgiveness. Source: Wikimedia

On September 16, 1888, Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard met in Pont-Aven and went to the town's patron saint's feast day at the church of Saint-Joseph. Inspired by the event, Gauguin painted "Vision after the sermon" (Vision après le sermon) while Bernard painted "The Forgiveness" (Le pardon), also known as "Breton Women on the Grass" (Les bretonnes dans la prairie). The two paintings, side by side, break free from Impressionism to inaugurate a new style, born from the dialogue between the two painters, and called "synthétisme".

The new movement advocated an extreme simplification of forms, a refusal to obey the laws of perspective, the use of pure colors and the delimitation of their areas with a black line, a technique borrowed from Japanese prints. Bernard’s painting, “The Forgiveness,” represents this radical modernity in the way he processes reality, distorts the faces of the figures and places them in space.

The intensity of the light that the painting radiates and the intensity of the colors that green dominates in addition to the formal boldness mark a new stage in the history of art, a break from the previous one, especially from Impressionism. The Nabi painters were deeply influenced by the painting which, together with Gauguin's "Vision after the Sermon" and Srouzier's "The Amulet", became landmarks in this period, from 1888 to 1891, of thirst for plastic innovations and creative ferment.

Gauguin's painting, “Vision after the Sermon,” completed in the same year, 1888, caused no less of a stir than Bernard's painting.

Paul Gauguin, Vision after the Sermon. Source: Wikimedia

Breton peasant women in their traditional dress watch, after a sermon, thanks to a collective sensory experience – a product of imagination, Jacob’s struggle with the angel. A diagonal tree branch separates reality from invention, between the natural and the supernatural. It is interesting to note that Gauguin was directly inspired by a woodcut, “Jujube Blossoms at Kamido,” 1857, by the Japanese artist Hiroshige.

Hiroshige, Jujube tree blossoms in Kamido. Source: Wikimedia

The diagonal branch separates the two worlds, the tangible and the emotional, the real and the imaginary, but the color red, the blood of twilight, connects them, as if introducing the innocent and pious women, who watch the struggle with reverence, into the theater of occult wisdom. The vision was born, indeed, from the women’s minds after being deeply influenced by the preacher’s words about the biblical scene, but are they aware of its meanings?

The two worlds are also linked by the parallel created between the cow belonging to the Breton peasant world and the two wrestlers, who resemble her. Four legs for the cow, four legs for the two wrestlers who appear to be one. The angel's wings are parallel to the cow's ears. The body of Jacob, bent over, broken in two, resembles the body of the cow. His cloak is torn to form a tail.

The angel is included in the animality, in his wings, in his legs, creating a single unit with the man in whose arms he is cradled, but a second glance will notice his blue clothing, which is different from the black robe of his opponent. Another glance will also distinguish between Jacob's dark hair and the angel's light hair and his wings, which are painted the same golden color as his hair.

The white hair of two of the women in the vision also splits into two tresses, two tails, which hang down and create a contrasting parallel to the angel's wings and the cow's ears, which stick up. This parallel emphasizes the active part of the women in the vision, since it exists only in their imagination.

And more. The two white tails raise doubts about the women's innocence, especially since thinner white ribbons are trailing from the tails of two of the female observers and echo the thin apple tree loop, to the right of the thicker branch.

The loops and twists of the human soul are many:

And Rachel said: O God, I have been overcome with my sister, and I will also be able to eat (…).

(Genesis 30:8)

A verse that corresponds with the passage describing Jacob's struggle with the angel, who is a man representing his brother Esau. Rachel struggled with her sister and Jacob struggled with his brother.

The whiteness of the Breton peasant women's veils does indeed suggest innocence and purity, but it is not clear whether the believers are protected from the temptations of evil. The veil is white, but the clothing is blacker than black (black/black, two similar and contrasting words, like all words in the language, explanations on my blog: “New Light on an Ancient Language”).

This interpretation is supported by Gauguin's own words, in his letter to Van Gogh dated September 26, 1888: "The two bonnets on the right resemble monstrous helmets." In front of the woman, with her hands clasped and her gaze lowered, is her friend, staring at the wrestlers and perhaps already coveting the winner... And wait, the woman with her eyes closed, is she absorbed in prayer or perhaps in more tangible fantasies? Perhaps this is what Gauguin meant when he gave her sensual lips, perhaps not.

Two paths are offered to every person, good and evil, and this duality is expressed most emphatically in this painting – even the branch that separates the spectators from the vision branches off at its top into two smaller branches. Moreover, Gauguin did not paint a jujube tree as in the Japanese print, but an apple tree, reminiscent of the scene of original sin, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Doesn't the painting hint to us, through these means, that this is a symbolic struggle between the animal and the divine, taking place within that man? Jacob, who was naked as a snake, struggles with his evil desires in order to transform from a crooked man (Jacob-crooked-crooked) into a straight man (Israel-straight as God):

(…) And the curve became straight (…).

(Isaiah 40:4)

Jacob paid with physical damage and limped after the struggle, but paradoxically, it was precisely the asymmetry in his gait that would symbolize a return to balance. The physical trauma would be a guarantee of moral integrity, the crookedness would indicate honesty.

In depicting the struggle between Jacob and the angel, Gauguin was influenced not only by the biblical scene and its references in medieval illustrations and later paintings (Rembrandt, Delacroix, Moreau, Dora) but also by the wrestling competitions in Brittany that took place as part of the popular festivals of the forgiveness ceremonies. The winner of the competition won a robe, an offering, or a cart. The young cow that Gauguin added to the painting may therefore symbolize the wrestlers’ desire to win the prize. At these events, young men and women met for the purpose of falling in love and marriage. Gauguin is thus alluding to earthly life that could clash with spiritual life.

The influence of the sumo wrestling drawings by the Japanese artist Hokusai, 1815, is also evident. See in this album the left pose in the top row that Gauguin seems to have used prominently, almost antique.

A revolutionary painting, synthetic in style and symbolist in its essence, which the Pont-Aven church refused to accept as a gift because of its audacity. These works by Bernard and Gauguin are considered pioneers of modern painting and influenced the Nave group, but it was a third painting, small in size, by one of its founders, Srouzier, that would become its flagship subject.

“The Talisman”: A Founding Symbol, a Roadmap

The lesson that Gauguin gave to Srouzier in the summer, the latter applied in the fall, on a small poplar board (22 cm by 27 cm), which he called “Le Talisman.” On the back he wrote: “Made in October 1888, under the guidance of Gauguin, by P. Srouzier, Pont-Aven.”

At the end of the summer, Srouzier returned to Paris with the small oil painting and showed it to his painter friends from the private art school, the Académie Julian. Thus the modest painting became the founding manifesto of the Nabi movement, after Maurice Denis said the following about it in 1890, foreshadowing abstract painting:

Before a painting is a warhorse, a naked woman, or some other anecdote, first and foremost a painting is a smooth surface, covered in colors, combined together in a certain order.

Srouzier’s painting, “The Amulet,” no longer belongs to just one artist but to the entire group and is at the heart of their shared mystical adventure. The small painting, done in a few minutes, became a mystical badge that represented the group’s principles, a flag that would unite its members and lead them on their new path.

Paul Srouzier's "Amulet" heralded a turning point in the history of painting and became the symbol of the prophets, like Claude Monet's painting, "Impression, Sunrise," which sixteen years earlier had accomplished a similar revolution by serving as the symbol of the Impressionists.

Srouzier’s painting, “The Amulet,” is supposed to depict the Stone River in a grove called La Bois Damour, but was inspired by the place. Looking at the painting, one can indeed identify certain parts of the landscape, from left to right – the diagonal path in the grove, the Assyrian avenue to the riverbank, the flour mill. However, the main focus of the painting is not the blue tree trunks reflected in the river water, but rather the symphony of contrasting colors, in which yellows clash with blues, in a kind of daydream. Srouzier literally applied both the lesson given to him by Gauguin and the words of Maurice Denis.

The parts of the familiar landscape are represented by spots of color, gathered together in a certain order, which allowed the Nabi painters to free themselves from any bonds that still bound them to the need to imitate nature. Thus Gauguin opened for Serosier and his friends the way to the pure, raw painting that heralded modern art. Fauvism, expressionism, abstract painting, nothing stopped the movement on its path towards freedom.

Sérusier's friends, the founders of the group, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Paul-Aly Ranson and those who joined it later, such as Édouard Viard and Car-Casvier Roussel, continued to admire the paintings of Paul Gauguin and his colleague Emile Bernard, the bold technique of colored surfaces, delimited by dark lines, which reminded them of the influence of Japanese prints, advertising posters and the art of stained glass and enamel. The concepts of “Synthetism” (omitting the frills and focusing on the main) and “Clauzonism” (clear separation by a black line), coined to define the new styles, not only took root but also became fixed in the history of art.

At the Volpini Café, originally the “Café des Arts”, across from the Universal Exhibition of 1889 but adjacent to it, the young group was enthralled by the exhibition of Gauguin and his friends (Émile Bernard, Émile Schopenhauer, Louis Anquetin), the “Impressionist and Synthetist Group”. The “Volpini Exhibition” sold nothing but its commercial failure did not prevent its fans from being enthusiastically inspired by it. From now on, they would take it upon themselves to break away from reality and create a picture with a life of its own.

A secret, mythical, and spiritual society

The young artists, Paul Srouzier, Pierre Bonnard, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Paul Ranson, René Pieu, were mostly from wealthy circles, although not all of them. Maurice Denis and Edouard Viard did not come from wealthy families originally and established themselves later, while Armand Ségane fought the blows of fate throughout his short life until he died, suffering from tuberculosis and destitute, at the age of thirty-four, in Srouzier's studio in Brittany, which had hosted him for several years.

Well, this group of young artists called themselves “Navi,” meaning “prophets.” In the spirit of schoolchildren, reveling in the atmosphere of sublime spirituality, they began to meet every week, initially at a café-restaurant in Le Passage Brady in the 10th arrondissement , which still exists today, and then, starting in 1889, at Paul Ranson’s studio, which they called “the temple,” above the family apartment at 25 Boulevard Montparnasse.

Henri Chapelle, drawing, Old Paris : House at 25 Boulevard Montparnasse. Source: Carnaval Museum website

At the weekly meetings, the participants invent rituals and use esoteric language. All who come to the meetings are members of the secret society, and if they are foreigners, it is enough to cultivate connections. From 1890, Ker-Casvier Roussel and Édouard Viard join, followed by the Dutchman Jan Verkade, the Frenchman Georges Lacombe, the Swiss Felix Veluton, the Danish Moujean Ballan, and a little later the Hungarian Joseph Rippel-Lunay and the Frenchman Aristide Meul (a list of the names of the Nabi painters in foreign languages ​​is at the end of the article).

In the weekly meetings, a kind of artistic masses, the members discussed ancient Byzantium, Hellenistic sculptures, medieval tapestries, 15th-century Florence, the prints of Hokusai and Hiroshige, the synthetism of Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard, symbolism and occult teachings, and they examined existing theories and developed new ones. Srouzier, influenced by Verkade, was enthusiastic about the myth of the divine numbers that underpinned the creation of the world, according to the teachings of Father Lenz, the theoretician monk from Germany.

At a time when artists rejected the illusory depiction of reality created by adherence to traditional perspective laws, Srouzier found his happiness in Father Lenz’s ideal proportions, a new grid on which he based his paintings. Each of the members would bring a small painting or drawing, considered an “icon,” the fruit of their most daring experiments in composition and use of color, and dedicate it to another member.

Bonnard, who loved Japanese art very much, was nicknamed “the Japanese Nabi”, Ranson, probably even more enthusiastic than Bonnard – “the Japanese Nabi more Japanese than the Japanese Nabi”, Denny, a lover of Italian primitives – “the Japanese Nabi with the beautiful icons”, Ivels, an illustrator of anarchist magazines – “the Japanese Nabi the journalist”, Weyer, who had just been discharged from the army – “the Japanese Nabi the soldier”, the red-haired Serosier – “the Japanese Nabi with the fiery beard”, Lacombe, who sculpted the busts of his friends – “the Japanese Nabi the sculptor”, and Lawton, who was born in Lausanne and always kept a certain distance – “the foreign Nabi”, the Dutch Wrekad, thin, tall and sharp – “the obelisk Nabi”, Rippel-Lunay – “the Hungarian Nabi”… and so on and so forth.

The humorous nicknames reflect the spirit of the movement, optimistic and dynamic, which was multifaceted and diverse and allowed each of its members complete freedom to follow their inclinations. Maurice Denis, for example, was a devout Christian and many of his paintings are steeped in religion. Jan Verkade, who was born a Protestant, was greatly influenced by the mysticism of his colleagues until he joined the Benedictine monastery in Beuron, in the Black Forest in Germany, under the direction of Father Lenz. Paul-Aly Ranson, who founded a puppet theater, also delved into theosophy and esotericism, in addition to his passion for theater.

Not all members of the Nave preferred spirituality. Édouard Viard and Pierre Bonnard worked on portraits and everyday domestic scenes, Henri-Gabriel Ibeles devoted himself to political and social life, Felix Velutton was a libertarian and anarchist like Ibeles. However, all members of the group claimed the right of art to shape the living space and to bring beauty into everyday life.

Beautify life

The members of the Nabi sought to eliminate the distance between the decorative arts and the fine arts, which had hitherto been considered superior, and to spread the latter as much as possible, making them accessible to all. The prophet is, as we know, also a mediator. The painters-decorators raised interior design, in which they particularly specialized, to the level of a real art. Furniture, upholstery fabrics, wall coverings, tapestries, stained glass, partitions, prints, jewels, lampshades, fans, cigar boxes, ceramics, illustrations, printing, theater scenery, costumes and puppets – the occupations of the Nabi painters were extremely diverse.

Siegfried Bing's Influence: Japanese Art, Art Nouveau

In 1890, members of the Navi discovered 760 Japanese prints at an exhibition organized by the art dealer, talent scout, and philanthropist Siegfried Bing at the Museum of Fine Arts in Paris. Their enthusiasm for the boldness of the colors, the purity of the forms, the radiant simplicity of the motifs, and the flowing lines was intense.

Siegfried Bing, who imported all kinds of art objects from the Far East, opened the “Art Nouveau House” in the 9th arrondissement to his friends in the Nabi: three floors of workshops, exhibition and sales. The exact address was: La Maison de l'Art nouveau (la Maison Bing), 22 rue de Provence. Today there is a post office there (Bing's gallery was demolished in 1922).

The post office that was once Bing's gallery, at 22 Rue de Provence. Source: Wikimedia

Siegfried Bing coined the term “Art Nouveau” and his successful gallery was the bastion of Japonism in Paris. Among the ceramics, glass, jewelry, furniture, pictures, and sculptures, the works of the Nauvoo artists starred. These were also influenced, through Bing, by the English Arts & Crafts movement, a pioneer of the renewal of the decorative arts, which began its activities as early as 1860.

The four exhibition halls at the Luxembourg Museum:

1. Women in the Garden

More than depicting a specific place, the gardens in the decorative panels of the Na'vi artists symbolize the seasons of life and allude to their transience. The models for the women in the garden were the artists' relatives, daughters of the family, or fiancées.

Pierre Bonnard was the first to combine female figures with plant motifs and merge them in arabesques of stylized fabrics, a feast for the eyes, a pure pleasure in beauty, elegance, vitality, rhythm, movement. The women's costumes, including the hats, blend harmoniously with the surrounding nature.

The four-winged curtain, “Women in the Garden” (Femmes au jardin), inspired by Japan, was exhibited by Bonnard at the Salon des Indépendants in 1891. In a letter to his mother, Bonnard explained that he ultimately preferred to separate the four wings and present each as a picture.

From left to right: The first panel is called “Woman in a Polka Dot Dress” (Femme à la robe à pois blancs), the second panel is “Woman Sitting Next to a Cat” (Femme assise au chat), the third panel is “Woman in a Cape” (Femme à la pélerine), the fourth panel is “Woman in a Checkered Dress” (Femme à la robe quadrillée).

Pierre Bonnard, Women in the Garden. Photo: Thomas Garnier, source: Commune Art Center website, Aix-en- Provence

Maurice Denis and Édouard Viard also received invitations and hurried to follow in Bonnard’s footsteps. Maurice Denis exhibited four allegorical panels entitled “Poetic Subject” (Sujet poétique) at the Salon des Indépendants in 1892, intended for a young girl’s bedroom. Each panel represents an important stage in a woman’s life, corresponding to four months of the year: September, October, April, July.

The first panel, entitled “Evening in September” (Soir de septembre), shows four women, in different poses, on a terrace, symbolizing the expectation of a partner. The four women, whose poses are different but whose expressions are the same, wear the same dress and appear to be versions of the same model.

The apples in the bowl, plump and prickly, as if waiting, too, for a bite, illuminate and emphasize the erotic aspect of the situation. Like the lovesick girl in “The Song of Songs,” the four girls yearn for their knights, their faces aching.

(…) Cover me with pillows, for I am lovesick.

(Song of Songs, 2:5)

The tension created between the static of the sweatless waiting and the dynamism of the galloping horse riders raises questions. Will there be future galloping horses heading in a direction to meet the waiting? According to the following tables, the answer is yes.

Maurice Denny, Poetic Theme: An Evening in September. Source: Wikimedia

The second panel, called “Evening in October” (Soir d'octobre), shows the engagement stage. Martha, Maurice's future wife, in a pink dress, is accompanied by her sister Eva. The soft shades, purple, pink, gold, and green, which gradually fade, create the impression of a peaceful and refined atmosphere. A canopy of curled leaves shelters the two sisters, between the two chestnut trunks whose bark engravings blend into the surrounding winding lines. The two trunks, like pillars at the entrance to a temple, create with the canopy a sacred tent that heralds the coming marriage ceremony.

Maurice Denis, Poetic Theme: An Evening in October. Source: Dorsa Museum Website

The ceiling painting “Poetic Arabesques” (Arabesques poétiques), also called “Ladder in the Foliage” (L'Échelle dans le feuillage), 1892, freezes time by depicting four identical figures of girls ascending a ladder under a canopy of leaves.

Maurice Denis, Poetic Arabesques. Source: Wikiart

The name “Poetic Arabesques” refers to Robert Schumann’s “Arabesque” while the name “Ladder in the Foliage” refers to Jacob’s Dream. A dizzying play of arabesques carries, indeed, the viewer’s gaze upward. A variation on Jacob’s Ladder and also musical notes between staves, this is the double meaning of the picture. It was commissioned from Maurice Denis by the painter, collector and musician Henry Lerolle and was intended for the ceiling of his dining room in his urban mansion in the 7th arrondissement, avenue Duquesne.

Vera Tsivkoff plays and explains Robert Schumann’s “Arabesque”

In this ceiling painting, “Poetic Arabesques,” Maurice Dani combines the mundane and the sacred, poetry and decoration, in a limited palette of colors that are clearly demarcated. The dense foliage opens here and there to reveal the heart of the sky. The hems of the dresses, like the curls of the foliage and the spots of the sky, twist in a stylish way that foreshadows Art Nouveau. The spiritual ascent of the four girls is carried out cheerfully.

Four girls who are, in fact, one. Maurice Denis presents his fiancée, Marthe Meurier, in different poses, at different stages of growth. Maurice met Marthe in 1891, married her in 1893, and they had nine children. After being widowed in 1919, he remarried in 1922 to Élisabeth Graterolle, known as Lisbeth, who once again brightened his life with her kindness. This is a portrait of her that he painted before their marriage.

Maurice Denis, Portrait of Lisbeth in Blue. Source: Maurice Denis Museum website

Viar was also pleased to receive an honorable invitation. Alexander Nathanson, one of the founders of the important journal “Le Revue Blanche,” commissioned nine huge panels from Viar to decorate the living room-dining room in his urban estate near the Bois de Boulogne. The Nathanson brothers and their connections with Viar and other painters were discussed in Part I of the article: Missia Sert: Cultural Icon, Queen of Paris.

Nathanson gave his friend Weyer a free hand in choosing the subjects and he decided to depict poetic scenes in public gardens, protected but, nevertheless, open areas. Scenes under the open sky that were intended to decorate the interior of the house – an innovative move at the time. The panels are related to each other but at the same time each one is autonomous.

Weyer was inspired by different eras:

From the Middle Ages – the tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn (Tapisseries de la Dame à la licorne) that he saw in the Cluny Museum.

From the 18th century – “The Gallant Festivities” (Les Fêtes galantes) by Antoine Watteau.

And more contemporary, from the late 19th century – the pastorals (shepherd paintings) of Puvis de Chavannes. And also Georges Seurat’s painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Shores of the Island of La Grande Jatte” (Un dimanche après-midi à la Grande Jatte).

For the scenes of mothers, nannies, children, and babies, Viar used sketches he had made in the Tuileries Garden, close to his home, and scenes he had seen in the Bois de Boulogne, a few blocks from Nathanson's estate. At the end of 1894, before the grandiose inauguration of the house, which you can read about in Part I of the series of articles about Missia , Viar finished the work. Alexander Nathanson and his wife did not part with all of their friend Viar's works for thirty-five years, even after moving to smaller houses twice.

The name of the series of panels is “Public Gardens” (Jardins publics). Here are four of them. From left to right: the first panel is called “Interrogation” (L'interrogatoire), the second panel “Nurses” (Les nourrices), the third panel “Conversation” (La conversation), the fourth panel “Red Umbrella” (L'ombrelle rouge).

Edouard Viard, Public Gardens. Source: Dorsa Museum website

Also in this hall are four pastoral pictures by Bonnard, 1899, depicting women and children in a magical, fairy-tale paradise atmosphere.

Pierre Bonnard, Apple Picking. Source: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts website, Richmond, USA

The other three panels, “The Great Garden” (Dorsa Museum), “Children Playing with a Goat” (Pula Museum of Fine Arts, Hakone, Japan), “Apple Picking” (Pula Museum), can be seen at this link.

2. The interior of the house

A renowned cardiologist and lover of modern art, Henri Vaquez, who was the doctor of the Daudet family and Marcel Proust , also ordered decorative panels from Viar to decorate his library room in his home in the 8th arrondissement, at 27 rue du général Foy.

In the four panels, 1896, the artist chose to present the citruses inside their rooms, mostly women, busy sewing, reading, making music, arranging flowers, between the walls of their rich and protected pavilion. A decoration that allows the guests to view themselves as if in a mirror. Really? Not really. As mentioned, this is the artist's interpretation and not reality itself.

A paradise of peaceful pleasures? The decor of the windowless place is so packed with motifs, shelves full of books, floral walls, rugs and pillows, invasive flowers, that it seems like it will soon swallow its occupants. The danger of seclusion lurks for the bourgeois in their estates. This is, of course, one possible interpretation among others. Alternatively, one could emphasize the harmony that prevails between the women and their home, their clothing blending into its design, their occupations that suit them and interest them.

The name of the series of four panels is “Characters in a House” (Personnages dans un intérieur): the first panel is called “Intimacy” (L'intimité), the second “Music” (La musique), the third “Choosing Books” (Le choix des livres), the fourth “Work” (Le travail).

In the panel called “Intimacy,” three women are seen in a modern home at the time. One of them is sitting on a sofa reading a newspaper, several pages of which are scattered next to her. At her feet is an album of prints open to a page showing a colored engraving. To her left are books stacked on an armchair and some flowers in a vase placed on a stool.

Two other women stand facing each other in a doorway on the right. Cushions cushion the floor, which is covered with various carpets. The floral wall coverings in the background are reminiscent of those of the “Thousand Flower Tapestry” (Les tapisseries aux mille fleurs), which were very common in the late Middle Ages. The prints of the dresses blend into the busy decoration of the whole.

Edouard Viard, Figures Inside a House: Intimacy. Source: Little Palace Museum website

In the panel called “Music,” five women are seen. The one in the foreground sits at a table with her hands in the fabrics piled on it. Behind the table, a black grand piano covered in books occupies a prominent place in the picture, on which a vase of flowers rests. The large flowers that spread out from the vase like a bush correspond with the smaller flowers that form the motif of the wall covering.

A woman sitting at the piano deciphers a score. The pianist is surrounded by three other women, two women sitting next to her and a little further away, to the right, a third woman standing. The overload of details makes it difficult to identify the women, but a long look will reveal them.

Edouard Viard, Figures in a House: Music. Source: Little Palace Museum website

In the panel called “Book Selection,” a woman is seen, with her back to the viewer, looking at bookshelves along the back wall. Her right hand holds a blue-bound book, the spine of which is resting on a table laden with books. The woman is wearing a plain pleated skirt and a printed blouse. In the foreground is a lilac bouquet in a vase, partially concealing a chair.

Edouard Viard, Figures in a House: A Selection of Books. Source: The Little Palace Museum website

In the panel called “Work,” we see a fair-haired man in a robe, sitting at a table, engrossed in a book. The model is the owner of the house that commissioned the panels – cardiologist Vaka. He is not reading a book for his own pleasure or entertainment. Most likely, the reading is for study and research purposes; he is very concentrated and marks the line he is focused on with his finger.

A small bouquet of tulips in a vase separates him from a woman, who is also sitting, hunched over a striped garment, apparently mending it. The woman is wearing a printed skirt and a striped shirt in black and beige. In front of her is a teapot and two mugs placed on a low table.

Edouard Viard, Figures in a House: Work. Source: Little Palace Museum website

Four panels in which the figures and the background are in harmony. Four panels that are in harmony with each other and the whole integrates and blends into the house that it decorates. In purple-pink colors, Vieira depicts the daily life of the members of bourgeois society of his time against the backdrop of the rich home decor, with the figures, furniture and objects appearing on parallel planes, in the manner of Japanese prints.

Viar mixed paint with glue to achieve the dull appearance of the panels, a theatrical set technique that preserves the intensity of the raw pigment. The symbolic dimension of the works is accordingly also anchored in the artist's activity on the theatrical scene. Art critics recognize in them the influences of Ibsen and Strindberg on Edouard Viar, who was particularly interested in the human soul and tensions within the family.

Four panels in which the figures and the background are in harmony. Four panels that are in harmony with each other and the whole integrates and merges with the house that it decorates. In purple-pink colors, Weyer shows the daily life of the members of bourgeois society of his time against the backdrop of the rich home decor, with the figures, furniture and objects appearing on parallel planes, in the manner of Japanese prints.

The impressive work, more mesmerizing than it is beautiful, is on permanent display at the Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, on the ground floor, room 21.

3. Art Nouveau

Even useful objects must be stylish and graceful, according to the teachings of the Nabi artists. To beautify life, did we say? In this hall, in addition to design patterns for fans and lampshades, and in a larger format for wall coverings and carpets, precious objects, Japanese prints from the collections of Nabi members, and documentary material, is Maurice Denny’s frieze for decorating a girl’s room, commissioned from him by Siegfried Bing, for his “Art Nouveau house” in which there was a model apartment, 1895. Bing’s goal was to make refined and harmonious home design accessible to everyone.

Danny was inspired by the song cycle “Love and Her Life,” composed by Robert Schumann in 1840 to describe important stages in female existence. This is a cycle of poems by the German Romantic poet Adalbert von Schmeisse, which describes the essence of the life story of a typical young German woman in the early 19th century: falling in love, engagements, marriage, intimate relationships, motherhood, widowhood.

Danny weaves everyday episodes into a symbolic vision, in twilight shades of gray and blue. This is one of his decorative paintings for the girl's room in Bing's model apartment.

Maurice Denny, July. Source: Maurice Denny Museum website

After many of the panels of the original series were purchased, Denny, who was very attached to this work, made a new version for his wife Martha's room in 1897. In 1900 he incorporated naive views of the garden of their private home in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Denny made further changes to it, until the addition in 1922 of the figure of his second wife, Lisbeth.

Maurice Denny, mother and child. Source: Wikiart

Bing also commissioned a frieze from Ranson, this time for the dining room of the “Art Nouveau House.” Ranson presented him with a series of pictures depicting women working in the fields. The fruit picking is done, as if to compensate for the effort, in a sociable atmosphere, in harmony with nature and its seasons, and is combined with collective quality time.

This is one of Ranson's decorative paintings for the dining room in Bing's model apartment.

Paul Ranson, Three Collections. Source: Maurice Denny Museum website

The women are also accompanied by pets, another token of quality time.

Paul Ranson, Woman and Dog. Source: Maurice Denny Museum website

The earthly reality alludes, on the other hand, like the prophets, to the founding myth of the cycle of life and the ancient connection between female figures and the fertility of the earth. In the tapestry, called “Spring” or “Women Under Flowering Trees,” nature seems to emanate from the woman. This work is, in fact, the result of a collaboration between Paul and his wife France. Paul outlined the sketch for the tapestry and France wove it. Design and weaving.

Paul and Frances Ranson, Spring. Source: Dorsa Museum website

At that time, the Hungarian József Rippl-Rónai asked his partner Lazarine Baudrion, who was assisted by her sister, to embroider the “Woman in the Red Dress” (Femme à la robe rouge). This embroidered tapestry, whose colors shimmer with inspiration from Hungarian folk art, was intended to decorate the dining room of the castle of Count and Countess Andrássy, which was built as a showcase for Hungarian Art Nouveau. The magnificent family work can be seen in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Budapest.

Józef Laszrzeń Rippel-Lunay, Woman in a Red Dress. Source: Wikimedia

The spectacular, brightly colored partition, “Paysage vallonné,” 1910, by Marguerite Sérusier, includes multiple hallmarks of the Nave narrative: stylized natural elements, harmony of different colors, elimination of perspective, and creation of a flat impression.

Marguerite was a student of Paul Srouzier at the Académie Ranson and became his wife in 1912. After his death in 1927, Marguerite (1875-1950), who was a designer, expert in textile decoration, and a painter herself, devoted much time to disseminating his work.

Marguerite Srouzier, Wavy Landscape. Source: Dorsa Museum website

4. Religious ceremonies

Srouzier, Ranson and Dani see art as an expression of a sublime language, linked to poetry, music, spirituality, philosophy and the occult. Symbolism is indeed present in their decorative works, in which earthly reality contains a heavenly meaning. In the mysterious forests of the Na'vi, where fantasy beings devote themselves to sublime rituals, the trunks of trees become pillars of a temple.

Maurice Denis's series, "Eternal Summer" (L' Éternel Été), includes four panels called, from left to right: "Choral Song" (Le chant choral), "Organ" (L'orgue), "Quartet" (Le quator), "Dance" (La danse). The series, intended to adorn the music salon of the administrator of the Imperial Theater in Wiesbaden in 1904, was no cathedral-shattering affair.

Maurice Denis, Eternal Summer. Source: Dorsa Museum website

Maurice Denis, Eternal Summer: Dance. Source: Wikiart

The painting “Women at the Spring” (Femmes à la source), by Paul Srouzier, 1899, permanently housed at the Musée d’Orsay, strikes the viewer with awe. The decorative panel, part of a series commissioned by the painter-sculptor Georges Lacombe for his Normandy château, Château de l’Ermitage à Saint Nicolas des Bois, is divided into three parts: sky, earth, and water.

Shadows of trees against a golden sky are reflected upside down in a spring, also golden. An endless procession of women, perhaps Danaids, descend to fill their red-orange pitchers, like glowing lanterns, with the pure spring water. But what are the female figures doing above? A mystery shrouded in holiness. An allegorical scene that inspires admiration and wonder.

The exhibition concludes with “The Legend of Saint Hubert,” Maurice Denis’ monumental seven-panel work. The work was commissioned from him in 1895 by the hunting-loving statesman Baron Denys Cochin to decorate his study in his Parisian mansion in the 7th arrondissement, rue de Babylone. Denis Cochin himself chose the subject.

Saint Aubert, a nobleman from the Ardennes region in the Middle Ages, loved hunting so much that he forgot to go to church. During a hunting trip, on Good Friday, he met a miraculous ram, which carried a shining cross between its horns and reminded him of his duties as a Christian. The light of the cross recalls the yellow dresses of the four doubles of Mary, who ascend and ascend on a ladder in the heart of the foliage (“poetic arabesques”).

Maurice Denny's panels depict, in chronological order, Denis Cuchan and his family, who set out on a hunting trip during which, like Saint Aubert, the ram, God's messenger, appears to them. The miracle of the revelation leads to redemption and at the end of the day the hunter and his family become a faithful Christian family, united in prayer. The pride of the horsemen, the hounds' desire for the ram marked as a sacrifice, and the cruelty of the hunters are transformed into humility, compassion, and gratitude.

The middle panel, “The Miracle,” depicting the revelation of the ram, is wider than the other panels. A ceiling painting, three angels blowing on a horn, parallels the three blowing in the middle panel. The emphasis is on the miracle of the revelation.

Maurice Denis, The Legend of Saint Aubert: The Miracle. Source: Maurice Denis Museum Website

The impressive work is permanently housed at the Maurice Denis Museum in the city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, west of Paris.

You can see all the boards at this link.

Sweet relaxation, in the garden or inside

I too left the exhibition, awed and excited, with my head bowed and my hands clasped. In the Angelina Tea Room, I was greeted with the “Navi” delicacy, a salute to the exhibition: light yogurt mousse on lemon-flavored shortbread (Scottish biscuit), and these two layers contain a heart of yuzu (Japanese etrog) and basil (basil), a modern and bold combination of East and West. A mention of the influence of Japan, so mixed in the art of the Naavi, as well as a bright, luminous yellow color, like the light characteristic of many of the Naavi paintings, a light that symbolizes spiritual ascension.

The exquisite resemblance to the hyacinth flower, in color and shape, is also striking. Let us remember that the flower motif appears in many of the Nabi's paintings.

Yolk. Photo: Leah Zahavi

Yes, you got it: when leaving the Luxembourg Museum, I recommend a visit to the Angelina branch next door, in the living room or in the garden, where you can continue the pleasure and elation by tasting a sweet and refined culinary creation that suits the exhibition being shown at the time. Each exhibition has its own delicacy prepared, and this is only at this branch, next to the museum. The delicacy is only available from the beginning of the exhibition until its end.

The “Navi” delicacy, the “Mademoiselle Angelina” tea salon near the Luxembourg Museum

Gastronomy and art sweeten life and greet each other. Thank you to the members of the Nabi group, who, like the prophets of truth from the Bible, were imbued with sublime messages. The message of freeing modern painting from its shackles, the message of making fine art accessible and raising the glory of the art of decoration. The members of the Nabi advocated for all that is beautiful and good, friendship, brotherhood, mutual assistance, with an emphasis on rising to a high spiritual level.

Some people come to benefit humanity, unlike others who come to destroy and demolish what their predecessors built. The Na'vi have left an indelible mark. Articles, studies, books, lectures, videos, films, exhibitions – interest in them is growing and there is still much to discover. Some of them are famous and some are still waiting for their benevolent lives to be unveiled, like, for example, Armen Sagen, whose art is breathtaking.

Armand Sagan, Two Breton Women Near a Cliff. Source: Wikimedia

The Na'vi Painters

Mogens Ballin, Pierre Bonnard, Auguste Cazalis, Maurice Denis, Charles Filiger, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Georges Lacombe, Aristide Maillol, René Piot, Paul Ranson, József Rippl-Rónai, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Armand Seguin, Marguerite Sérusier, Paul Sérusier, Félix Valloton, Jan Verkade, Édouard Vuillard

And finally, an overview of the exhibition at the Luxembourg Museum.

Did you like the article?

Interested in reading about other similar painters? You are invited to read Dr. Orna Lieberman's article on Fernan Knopf: Fernan Knopf 1858-1921, the Master of Mystery

And another related article of hers about the Oscar Gass collection, which includes a chapter on the Na'vi painters: A Collector's Perspectives

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