The Nabis exhibition, Paris

The Nabis – artists such as Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, Sérusier, Ranson and Vallotton – are on display in the Luxembourg Museum in Paris from 13 March to 30 June 2019 in the exhibition called ‘Les Nabis et le Décor.’ Artists at the end of the 19^thcentury created a new genre of decorative arts – accessible to all – aimed to decorate interiors. 

In the late 1880s, young artists fascinated by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) and his paintings, asserted their opposition to Impressionism, which they considered to be too close to reality. They referred to themselves as ‘Nabis’ – meaning ‘prophets’ in Hebrew and Arabic – because their ambition was to reveal a new art. 

The members, active between 1888 and 1900, initially consisting of painters such as Paul-Élie Ranson (1861-1909), Paul Sérusier (1864-1927), Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940), and Maurice Denis (1897-1943), were soon joined by other artists, including Aristide Maillol (1861-1944), Félix Vallotton (1865-1925), and Ker-Xavier Roussel (1867-1944). They agreed to give painting a decorative role with the idea of abolishing the boundary between fine and applied arts. 

Most of the Nabis were interested in Japanese art, discovering ukiyo-e prints (‘floating world image’ prints) when they visited the Japanese Engraving Exhibition
at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris in 1890. The Nabis began to collect prints, which they pinned on the walls of their workshops. Japanese art was particularly admired for its ability to simplify forms, for its love of bright colours, its way of depicting fugitive impressions, and decorative fantasy. Siegfried Bing promoted the craze for Japanese art, called Japonism, and published ‘Le Japon artistique’ – a luxuriously illustrated magazine. The Nabis took inspiration from these flat and colourful images to create their new style.

In 1891, Pierre Bonnard was the first to associate feminine figures with a plant motif to compose
a décor – and a perspective without depth. Bonnard was quickly followed by Denis, Vuillard, and Roussel. 

Maurice Denis focused on the stages of the months of the year. In his ceiling decoration, Poetic Arabesque, he used four identical young girls on a ladder in an upward or downward movement to show a link between the earthly and the heavenly realms. 

Vuillard was 36 years old when he received a commission from his friend Alexandre Natanson to create a monumental décor designed to adorn the living-dining room of Natanson’s mansion. Vuillard painted panels (used independently or in continuity) with the outdoor themeof public gardens. 

In December 1895, Parisians visited the first exhibition organised by Siegfried Bing (1838-1905) in his Maison de l’Art Nouveau. Rooms filled with furniture, paintings, sculptures and prints were furnished like an apartment, with decorative friezes by Maurice Denis and Paul-Élie Ranson.

In 1897, Paul Sérusier was inspired by the theme of the forest and fantastic creatures to compose a collection of panels for the dining room of his friend, the sculptor Georges Lacombe.  

The aim of the this current exhibition ‘Les Nabis et le Décor’ organised by the Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais and the Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie, Paris – is to reconstitute as completely as possible some of the major collections that the Nabis produced.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).