Nabis: Prophets

Paul Sérusier, “The Talisman” - oil on wood panel (cigar box lid), 10 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches (27 x 21.5 cm), Musée d'Orsay, Paris. (click photo for larger image)Nabis refers to an avant-garde group of French painters and poets, active during the late nineteenth century. They were persuaded by French artist, Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) to paint in flat areas of pure color—rejecting naturalistic representation. It was Paul Sérusier (1863-1927) who suggested the name “Nabis,” which comes from the Hebrew word Nebiim, meaning “prophets.” The painting featured here is generally considered the first Nabis work. Both Gauguin and Sérusier were Post-Impressionists—and both set down foundations important to Modern Art.

Paul Ranson - Les Nabis

Paul Ranson - Christ and Buddha - c. 1890 - Oil on canvas - Height: 66.7 cm (26.26 in.), Width: 51.4 cm (20.24 in.) - Private Collection (click photo for larger image)French painter and writer Paul Ranson (1864-1909) was an important member of Les Nabis, a group of Post-Impressionists who became very important in the realm of graphic arts. The language of that movement was put forth by Ranson, and he and his wife eventually set up an academy for teaching the ideas and techniques of the Nabis. Philosophically, they believed that a work of art is the end product and the visual expression of an “artist's synthesis of nature in personal aesthetic metaphors and symbols.” Les Nabis paved the way for the early 20th century developments of abstract and non-representational art. 

Sien

Vincent van Gogh - Sien with Cigar Sitting on the Floor near Stove March-April 1882, The Hague - Pencil, pen and brush in black ink, white opaque watercolour on laid paper (two sheets), 452 x 557 mm - Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo (click photo for larger image)Dutch Post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) settled in The Hague in late December 1881. At the beginning of 1882, he got to know Clasina Maria ("Sien") Hoornik (1850-1904), a drunken woman who had spent her life in a state of moral and physical misery. Vincent brought Sien and her children to live in his house, and used her as a model.

She drank and smoked cigars while he had to go hungry. Sien initially earned her bread as a prostitute and was already pregnant when she met van Gogh. Vincent was ready to marry her, but his brother, Theo, was against it. The relationship lasted eighteen months. Between March and May 1882, Vincent did a series of large-size drawings of Sien, of which the drawing featured here is probably the first and most impressive piece.

Van Gogh Museum Reopens

“A visitor in the Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam takes a picture of the famous Dutch painter's self portrait with easel dated from 1888 prior to the reopening of the museum, in Amsterdam on May 1, 2013.” (click photo for larger image)“Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum reopened its doors to the public with a stunning new display of some of the Dutch master's greatest works, completing a trio of renovations of the city's most famous museums.” Anyone planning to be in Amsterdam soon should definitely check it out!

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The Group of Seven

Tom Thomson - Spring Sunset, Algonquin Park - c. 1916 - oil on composite wood-pulp board - The Thomson Collection © Art Gallery of Ontario (click photo for larger image)The Group of Seven were Canadian landscape artists inspired by the wilderness paintings of Tom Thomson (1877-1917), who died under mysterious circumstances while on a trek in Ontario's Algonquin Park in 1917 (his body was found floating in Canoe Lake, but an autopsy showed an injury to the head and no evidence of water in his lungs). The artsts of the Group of Seven were strongly influenced by Post-Impressionism creating bold, vividly-colored canvases, and infusing elements of the landscape with symbolic meaning.