Maurice Denis

Maurice Denis, like Paul Ranson, joined the Nabis when he saw Paul Serusier’s Talisman. He believed in all the things the Nabis stood for. Denis was an active member of the movement and published an article, Art Et Critique, in which he told of the Nabis beliefs.

Like the other Nabis, he was interested in symbolism, religious thought, and the decorative arts. He thought it was of particular importance that an artist chose the right subject and he was drawn to the bold colors of the Nabis. Below if a painting, Sunlight in the Terrace, in which Denis uses the bold colors of the Nabis in a similar way as Serusier did in his Talisman.
Denis was particularly interested in religious subjects. When you consider his body of work, this interest is clear. Below is just one example of a painting of a religious subject, Holy Women Near the Tomb.
Besides paintings, Denis illustrated books and musical scores, designed carpets and planned stained-glass windows. He decorated ceramics and even painted a mural on the ceiling of French composer, Chausson’s home.

Denis’ popularity grew ever greater and he received many commissions. Later in his life, he painted more ceiling murals, many in prestigious locations. These included murals at the Theater des Champs-Elysees, the Church of St. Paul in Geneva, and the Petit Palais in Paris.

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Paul Ranson

Today’s post focuses on another of the Nabis, Paul Ranson. They all seem to be named Paul, huh? Paul Serusier and his inspiration, Paul Gauguin, and now Paul Ranson. There are plenty of others who are not named Paul, but I particularly liked Ranson’s Nabi Landscape, shown below. So today, Paul Ranson.
Ranson enjoyed a short life, from 1864 to 1909. Even as a child he enjoyed painting and his parents encouraged him to create art. He did not begin his education at Academie Julian, but it was there that he met Paul Serusier who introduced him to the new artistic movement of the Nabis.

Paul Ranson was interested, like the other Nabis, in symbolism, philosophy, and the decorative arts. He even designed tapestries, some of which were made by his wife. He especially liked to paint images of fantasy rather than those observed in nature. The main thing Ranson didn’t like about Impressionism was that (he believed) the artists chose random, unimportant subjects to portray and then did so without adding anything from their own minds.

Ranson played a central role in unifying the Nabis; he held weekly meetings in his home and wrote plays that the Nabis performed for writers and philosophers. Still, when Gauguin left for Tahiti, as you read yesterday, the Nabis gradually disbanded. Ranson continued painting in the Nabi style.

In 1908 he opened a school to teach the style and philosophy of the Nabis. When he died in 1909 his wife took over the school and other Nabis taught as they had the time and the desire.

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Paul Serusier

At the beginning of his adult life, Paul Serusier did not seem to be in the position to found and form a new art movement, but he did just that. He formed the Nabi Movement in France that existed through the 1890s. You read about this on Monday and can click the link above to refresh your memory.

Serusier was born to a wealthy family in Paris in 1864. He earned two degrees from the Condorcet Lycee: one in philosophy and one in the sciences. He worked only a short time before going to the Academie Julian to study art. Here, he found his calling and made a great many friends, including Maurice Denis who also became a member of the Nabis.

At the Academie Julian, Serusier learned artist techniques in the traditional manner of copying the masters. It wasn’t until 1888 when he went to Pont-Aven and met Paul Gauguin that Serusier developed his own style. Gauguin encouraged Serusier to use bright colors and not hide his own ideas but show them boldly in his paintings. Gauguin guided Serusier to paint a colorful landscape on a cigar box lid which became known as “the Talisman” among Nabis. Below is another example of Serusier’s bright colors: Washerwomen at the Laita River Near Pouldu.
The group formed when Serusier returned to Paris and met often to discuss artistic ideas, especially what the Nabis found wrong or broken in the more established art world. They were very interested in symbolism and religious thought, as well.

When Gauguin went to Tahiti in 1891, the Nabis gradually disbanded. Eventually Serusier stopped using pure, bright colors, choosing instead to mix grey into his paints. His paintings also became more realistic, as you can see in the painting shown below, Rainshower.

In 1895, Serusier went to a monastery in Germany where he learned to paint using measurements and numbers. His new style did not appeal to his friends in Paris but he continued anyhow, committed to the new ideas.

He studied Egyptian and Italian art, as well as tapestries of the Middle Ages to further understand the decorative arts and to learn to simplify his paintings. In 1914 he published a book, “ABCs of Painting” which was a summary of his life’s studies in art.

He died in 1927.

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Les Nabis

In the 1890s a group of artists banded together in Paris. They called themselves Nabis, Hebrew for “prophets.” They were unified by a dislike of impressionism, a major art movement of the time as you have seen elsewhere in the blog. The Nabis thought the impressionists wanted only to capture fleeting moments on canvas. The Nabis wanted to create something they felt was more meaningful: they wanted to cause spiritual reactions in the viewers of their work.

What the Nabi paintings truly had in common, though, was a use of bold but muted colors used in unexpected ways to show real scenes and objects in unrealistic ways. They were greatly influenced by Paul Gauguin, much of whose work can be described just that way. Below is his Self Portrait with Halo in which you see the bold, primary colors placed next to each other in a way that should be overwhelming but isn’t. This was painted in 1889.
Also notice the serpent and the apple. Remind you of the story of Adam and Eve?

Paul Serusier loved Gauguin’s style and founded the Nabi Movement based on it. Serusier painted a wildly colorful landscape on the lid of a cigar box and thus began the movement. The Nabis called it “the talisman.” It is the painting shown below.
Serusier was able to attract many members to the new style of painting. In the next week I’ll post on some of these artists, as well as on Serusier.

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