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"Lilacs" Oil on cardboard, 14 x 11 1/8 Edouard Vuillard, 1892 |
Meet one of my favorite artists, Edouard Vuillard. I was first drawn to Vuillard's work because of his evocative paintings of interiors. As I learned more about him, I became fascinated by his early work as part of the "Nabis", a group
of avant-garde French painters working in the 1890's. The Nabis rebelled against the old-line, classical academies of art, as well as against the new-fangled Impressionists. The term "Nabis" is from the Hebrew word for prophet. Indeed, these painters are said to have paved the way to what we know tody as modern art.
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Self Portrait Eduard Vuillard, 1890 |
The rallying cry of the Nabis were the words of Maurice Denis. He said that a picture, more than representing a subject, "is essentially a flat surface covered with colors arranged in a certain order." The Nabis used color in purely instinctive ways, and were unconcerned with a literal representation of nature. Their work was abstracted and simplified. They often eliminated details, and flattened the subject matter. "Lilacs", at the top of this post, is a beautiful example of Vuillard's work as one of the Nabis. I also found the above self-portrait by Vuillard, which clearly reflects the Nabis sensibilities.
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Self-Portrait Edouard Vuillard, 1889 |
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"Misa and Thadee" Edouard Vuillard, 1897 |
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"Interior: Woman before a Window" Oil on Panel, 24 3/4 x 22 3/4 Edouard Vuillard, 1900 |
I find Vuillard's interiors simply magical. His fascination with the decoration of the rooms is such that it often overwhelms or obscures the human figures. The rooms themselves seem to have a life of their own. I could not say it better than Andre Gide did. He said that Vuillard's work is art "speaking in a low tone, suitable for confidences". Intimate, indeed.
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