From the small Nabi paintings to the large decorative pieces, three exhibitions restore to his rightful place of eminence a multitalented artist. His symbolist compositions and decorative works benefited from this research, which he applied to an art which was becoming increasingly monumental and reasoned. His trip to Rome in 1898 with Andre Gide confirmed the move towards a classical revival.
From the small Nabi paintings to the large decorative pieces, three exhibitions
restore to his rightful place of eminence a multitalented artist
Scientific curator: Jean-Paul Bouillon, professeur a l'universite de
Clermon-Ferrand et membre de l'Institut universitaire de France
Curators: Sylvie Patry, conservateur au musee d'Orsay, Isabelle Gatan, chargee
d'etudes documentaires au musee d'Orsay, Nathalie Bondil, conservateur en chef et
conservateur de l'art europeen 1800-1945 au Musee des beaux-arts de Montreal
With the participation of Claire Denis
The Musee d'Orsay is putting on a major one-man show of the work of Maurice
Denis, the first since the retrospective organized in 1970 at the Orangerie, and
more than 10 years after that held in 1994 in Lyon, Cologne, Liverpool and
Amsterdam. The purpose of this exhibition is to restore Denis to his rightful place
of eminence, and to make a serious reassessment of how his work is viewed, by
following the strands linking his earliest work with later developments, the small
Nabi paintings with the large decorative pieces.. Alongside masterpieces, works
often unseen before, or never exposed in France for more than a hundred years,
appear aspects of his activity which are not as well known, like his work with
landsxcape or the reconstitution of three of his most important decorative cycles
Walls, walls for decoration
The essentially chronological layout of the exhibition brings together about a
hundred paintings made between 1889 and 1943. The first rooms retrace the beginnings
of the Nabi movement, dominated by a rejection of realism and literary symbolism,
where mystical and religious inclinations are embodied in the figure of Marthe
Meurier, his fiancee, then wife, and his real muse. From the beginning of the
1890s, the Nabis were calling for a€œwalls, walls for decoration. Denis painted
ceilings and panels, as in Avril (April) or Le Printemps (Forest in Spring) and
L'Automne (Forest in Autumn). Like his Nabi friends, Denis produced more and more
small paintings, each more daring in its application of the new aesthetic: flat
surfaces of bright colour, a radical simplification of shapes, absence of
perspective, Japanism and Synthetism. One room brings together about fifteen of
these a€œNabi icons - some never exhibited before - painted by Denis in the
1890s. They show a rare freshness and freedom of execution.
An art increasingly monumental and reasoned
His symbolist compositions and decorative works benefited from this research, which
he applied to an art which was becoming increasingly monumental and reasoned. His
trip to Rome in 1898 with Andre Gide confirmed the move towards a classical
revival, encouraged by the art of Raphael and Cezanne. Other equally important
features both in Denis' work and in early twentieth century art are the strict
rules for composition, a restricted use of colour, the importance of drawing:
noticeable in key works like L'Hommage A Cezanne (Tribute to Cezanne), in the
large decorative panels, like Virginal Printemps a major painting never exhibited in
a French gallery since 1945, but also seen in the family scenes, inspired by the
happiness he shared with Marthe. By this time Denis was a well-known, revered and
highly sought-after artist. His work was sold by Vollard, Druet and Bernheim and was
much favoured by Ivan Morosov and his rival Sergei Shchukin, both eminent Russian
collectors of Matisse and Picasso.
The turning towards classicism
The turning towards classicism becomes clear in the dazzling paintings of beaches
where the atmosphere is close to that in his photographs taken at the same time.
There is an exhibition room dedicated to these. It opens with the first work in the
series painted in 1898, Baigneuses, Perros, (Women bathers, Perros). Denis'
beaches are also meant as a critical reply to Matisse. Denis tries to define a
community art, which maintains balance, sensuality and order, between the
constraints of the subject, the feeling for nature and decorative imagination. At
the end of this chronological sequence, there is a display of landscapes painted
between 1898 and 1943. They manage to show how a taste for simplicity and synthesis
transform the reproduction of nature. On display for the first time is one of his
last paintings, a Vue du Reposoir painted in pure Nabi spirit a few weeks before his
death.
The last rooms show three decorative cycles. L'Amour et la vie d'une femme, La
Legende de Saint Hubert (The legend of Saint Hubert): The Story of Psyche.
Presented in part in 1908 and in 1909 in Paris, before been installed in Moscow, the
complete work has never since been seen in France.
Photographies and drawings
Two exhibitions of photographies and drawings complete the main one. The museum
presents for the first time, the photographies Maurice Denis took of his family and
friends between 1896 and 1913. Through close-ups, the artist obtained silhouettes or
blurred faces.. These pictures show his taste for symbolism, form simplification and
lines harmony, and at the same time he did borrow from them motives traceable in his
paintings. The museum also exhibits a corpus of drawings acquired in 2003,
illustrating Sagesse by Paul Verlaine and the Fiorettiof Saint Francois d'Assise.
; The drawings of the young artist a€“ then nineteen years old a€“ for Sagesse are
particularly important for the history of Nabi books. Praised on its publication in
1913 as a bibliophilic achievement, the illustrated edition of the Fioretti was of
particular value for Denis, combining his love for italian art and landscape and his
spiritual affection for the saint.
Illustration: Maurice Denis, Dominique with straw hat, standing on the beach, young
woman sitting in the background, Perros-Guirec, 1911. Gelatino-argentique
print, 15,5 x 16,5 cm Album Druet 8.10 Musee d'Orsay, Claire Denis gift, 2006
ADAGP, Paris 2006
This exhibition has been coproduced by the Musee d'Orsay, the Reunion des musees
nationaux, Montreal Museum for Fine Arts and the museo di Arte Moderna e
Contemporanea di Trento Rovereto
Image: Maurice Denis, Les Muses, 1893 Oil on canvas H 171 x 137,5 Paris, musee
d'Orsay Photo RMN / Herve Lewandowski ADAGP, Paris 2006
PRESS CONTACT:
Amelie Hardivillier 01 40494856
Nacer Berry 01 40494742
E-mail presse@musee-orsay.fr
Opening: 31 October 2006
Musee D'Orsay
Entrance by the parvis 1, rue de la Legion d'Honneur - Paris
Hours: Every day, from 9:30 AM to 6 PM Thursday until 9:45 PM Closed on Monday
Admission: Museum+Exhibition: Full rate: 9 euro Concessions and sunday: 7 euro Free admissions: under 18, and holders Carte blanche du musee d'Orsay, MuseO, La Carte jeune du musee d'Orsay