3-1. Redon and Symbolism
Gauguin and Redon dominated the idea of the Nabis successively. The deaths of van Gogh and Seurat as well as Gauguin’s departure created a gap in the leadership of the pictorial avant-garde.183 Redon finally filled the gap and played a role of mentor from 1891 onwards.184
peinture: Paul Gauguin”, Mercure de France, March 1891, pp. 162-163
181 Douglas W. Druick, Gloria Groom, Fred Leeman, Maryanne Stevens (ed.), Odilon Redon: prince of dreams 1840-1906, Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, p. 199
182 See my chapter two “Cézanne’s still life Compotier, verre et pommes”.
183 Douglas W. Druick, Gloria Groom, Fred Leeman, Maryanne Stevens (ed.), Odilon Redon: prince of dreams 1840-1906, Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, p. 203
184 In an article on Sérusier published in 1908, Denis remarked that with the departure of Gauguin for Tahiti in 1891, literary Symbolism along with the desire to renew the art of theater decor had became the dominant influence on the young generation. Denis wrote: “...Gauguin était parti pour Tahiti, et ce qui dominait maintenant les préoccupations des peintres c’était plutôt le symbolisme littéraire.”
Quoted from Maurice Denis, Jean-Paul Bouillon (ed.), Le ciel et l’arcadie, Paris: Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 1993, p. 152
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Redon was introduced to the young group in 1889 through the writer André Mellerio.185 Expressing a deeper meaning underlying the surface for the exoticism, and mysticism in the content of his work, Redon’s art was considered as having no rules. Open-ended in its meanings, it was deriving its inspiration from both nature and the imagination.186 As the famous critic Thadée Natanson puts, the art of the “Prince of Dreams” was crossing beyond the boundary between reality and illusion.187
Redon treasured the attention drawn by the Nabis after suffering many years in isolation.188 He had followed his younger friend’s innovation, attending regularly their exhibition at Le Barc de Boutteville since 1892. In this respect, Denis’ choice to present Redon’s painting at the beginning of his project was merely like a step to draw the respectable master out of his isolation and set him in the context of the art of his time.189 The dominant evidence of their mutual friendship can be seen in the series of portraits Redon painted of the Nabi group, such as the profile of Denis (Fig. 37), Sérusier (Fig. 38), Bonnard (Fig. 39), Vuillard (Fig. 40), and Gauguin’s portrait entitled Black Profile (Gauguin, Fig. 41).
In fact, in contrast to Denis’s group portrait, Redon’s charcoals have astonishing similarities with Hommage à Cézanne. The profiles of Sérusier and Bonnard painted in 1903 seem to refer to Denis’ depictions. In this point of view, the pictorial dialogue
185 Mellerio first introduced the Nabis to Redon in 1889 and became an advocate and publisher of their print. His Catalogue of Redon’s prints first appeared in 1913 under the auspices of La Société pour L’Etude de la Gravure Française.
186 Douglas W. Druick, Gloria Groom, Fred Leeman, Maryanne Stevens (ed.), Odilon Redon: prince of dreams 1840-1906, Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, p. 200
187 Thadée Natanson, “Exposition Odilon Redon”, in Revue Blanche, June 1894, quoted from Stephen F. Eisenman, The temptation of Saint Redon: biography, ideology, and style in the Noirs of Odilon Redon, Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992, p. 230
188 In 1898, Redon even intended to found an artistic association along with Maurice Denis, critic André Mellerio, musician Ricardo Viñes, and Vuillard. They planned to call “L’Art ternaire” to denote the connection they desired between literature, music, and art. In 1901, Redon wrote to his close patron Andries Bonger, expressing his friendship with the young Nabi, “Le nouveau bateau des jeunes, qui sont mes amis, et qui m'entourent si affectueusement, vouge bien, aussi.” See Margret Stuffmann and Max Hollein (ed.), Melissa Thorson Hause and Allison Plath-Moseley, etc (trans.), As in a Dream:
Odilon Redon, Frankfurt: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2007, p. 103
189 Udo Kultermann, “Hommage à Cézanne by Maurice Denis”, in Journal of Art History, Vol. 52, No.
2, 1983, p. 84
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these artists undertook can be seen through the portraits painted by the different members of their circle.
In his entire life, Denis had promoted Redon’ status vigorously: “Odilon Redon was one of my youth friendship and master. Very erudite, musical, welcoming and kind, both an “honest man” and an “art lover” from old time, he was the ideal for the young symbolist generation, our Mallarmé.”190 Denis also referred to Redon’s importance for Symbolism: “Redon stands at the beginning of Symbolism, as a visual expression of the ideal.”191
Among the Nabi group, Bonnard and Vuillard were especially important to Redon. They maintained a close relationship with him. As Bonnard once said, “I have the utmost respect and admiration for Odilon Redon. What strikes me the most in his work is the meeting of two qualities almost opposed: the very pure plastic material and the very mysterious expression.”192 Vuillard was also convinced that “the meaning of mystery is to be always in ambiguity, with double, triple aspects; in the hints of aspect (images in images), forms which will be, or which become according to the state of mind of the beholder. All things become more than suggestive because they appear.”193 Except Bonnard and Vuillard, Sérusier praised Redon’s artistic
190 “Odilon Redon a été un des maîtres et une des amitiés de ma jeunesse. Très cultivé, très musicien, accueillant et bon, à la fois “l’honnête homme” d’autrefois et “l’amoureux d’art ” de naguère, il était l’idéal de la jeune génération symboliste, - notre Mallarmé. ” Maurice Denis, “Hommage à Odilon Redon”, in La Vie (30 Novemer 1912), p. 129; English version was translated by Xavier Capelli.
Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-1898) sought to recreate the sensations, ideas, or objects in which he was interested, not by direct description but by indirect evocation, by the creation of a poem that would be kind of metonymic equivalent. In addition, he intentionally obscured the connection between subject matter and its realization by allowing a single word or poetic construction to signify many meanings and interpretations. The Nabis were profoundly influenced by his idea, Denis in particular.
191 “La leçon de Redon, c’est son impuissance àrien peindre qui ne soit représentatif d’un état d’âme, qui n’exprime quelque profondeur d’émotion, qui ne traduise une vision intérieure.”, Maurice Denis,
“Hommage à Odilon Redon”, in La Vie (30 Novemer 1912), p. 129, quoted from Margret Stuffmann and Max Hollein (ed.), Melissa Thorson Hause and Allison Plath-Moseley, etc (trans.), As in a Dream:
Odilon Redon, Frankfurt: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2007, p. 103, note 2
192 “J'ai la plus grande admiration pour Odilon Redon. Ce qui me frappe le plus dans son oeuvre, c'est la réunion de deux qualités presque opposées: la matière plastique très pure et l'expression très mystérieuse.” Qouted from Bonnard, “Hommage à Odilon Redon”, in La Vie (30 Novemer 1912), p.
129; English version was translated by Xavier Capelli.
193 Quoted from Margret Stuffmann and Max Hollein (ed.), Melissa Thorson Hause and Allison
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uniqueness: “Odilon Redon is the finest figure of an artist I have ever known. It is not for me to speak about the private man that I always found admirable. As for the artist, his long evolution has been continuous and normal. When I had the good fortune to be presented by Paul Gauguin, he was already the author of these beautiful suites of lithographs which revealed him to the world artist. His works became rare, jealously kept by the amateurs.”194
As one of the strong supporters to Redon as well as a figure in Hommage à Cézanne, the art critic André Mellerio also explained Redon’s important status and unique individuality, “You ask me what I admire in Redon. Above all: a sincere and complete originality. […] the artist meets the intimate deepness of our human being.
It is not without relevancy that he invokes dream, and that this word is going back continually whenever someone speaks or writes about him. Yet, dream is made of involuntary suggestions, as well as underlying inspirations towards a luminous and imprecise goal, so called ideal? […] Redon has also the power to make a living, if we could say, the newly thrill literally expressed by Edgar Poe, Baudelaire, Flaubert in his Saint Antoine temptation.”195 In his review, Mellerio justified that Cézanne, Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Redon were the principal inspirations for the young
Plath-Moseley, etc (trans.), As in a Dream: Odilon Redon, Frankfurt: Hatje Cantz Verlag, 2007, pp.
106-108, no. 11
194 “Odilon Redon est la plus belle figure d’artiste que j’aie connue. Il ne m’appartient pas de parler de l’homme privé que j’ai toujours trouvé admirable. Quant à l’artiste, sa longue évolution a été normale et continue. Quand j’ai eu le bonheur de lui être présenté par Paul Gauguin, il était déjà l’auteur de ces belles suites de lithographies qui l’ont révélé au monde artiste. Elles sont devenues rares, jalousement gardées par les amateurs éclairés.” Quoted from Sérusier, “Hommage à Odilon Redon”, in La Vie (30 Novemer 1912), p. 133
195 “Vous me demandez ce que j’admire en Redon. Avant tout : une originalité vraie et entière. […]
L’artiste touche à d’intimes profondeurs de notre être. Ce n’est point sans justesse qu’il se réclame du Rêve, et que le mot revient sans cesse quand on parle ou qu’on écrit de lui. Or, le Rêve n’est-il point fait de suggestions involontaires, aussi d’aspirations latentes vers un but lumineux et imprécis qu’on appelle l’Idéal ? […] Redon eut aussi le pouvoir de faire vivre, si l’on peut dire, pour les yeux, ce frisson nouveau qu’exprimait avec des mots la littérature étrange d’un Edgar Poë, d’un Baudelaire, de Flaubert en sa tentation de Saint Antoine.” Quoted from André Mellerio , “Hommage à Odilon Redon”, in La Vie (30 November 1912), p. 132; English version was translated by Xavier Capelli.
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Nabi generation.196 Mellerio not only praised Redon, he also eulogized Cézanne in 1892.197 Later, he published his survey of non-naturalist art Le Mouvement idéaliste en peinture in 1896, listing Redon with Cézanne, Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Puvis de Chavannes, and the Nabis (such as Bonnard, Denis, Ranson, Roussel, Sérusier, and Vuillard) as part of the group of artists seeking to escape the quotidian through inspiration and expressive form.198 Mellerio’s classification related to the chosen figures in Denis’ work such as Gauguin, Redon, Cézanne and his fellow colleagues in a connected group. This could be the first inspiration for Denis’ decision in his group portrait.
However, the Nabis such as Vuillard, Bonnard and Denis rejected the stringent demands of pictorial Symbolism and returned to a more direct confrontation with nature.199 They were concerned about the position of Redon’s work after 1900 in relation to the balance between external nature and the world of imagination which were subsequently to be conducted.200 The balance between sensation and imagination became their main goal to achieve their art in their last period.
3-2. Redon and Cézanne
Although Denis did not mention clearly the reason why he substituted Redon’s painting with Cézanne’s in his group portrait, he made a clear distinction between these two masters. For Denis, Redon brought to the younger artists “a mystical or esoteric element”, especially a “certain formal innovation that encouraged a reduction in the aspect of painting and an increase in purely decorative and
196 Douglas W. Druick, Gloria Groom, Fred Leeman, Maryanne Stevens (ed.), Odilon Redon: prince of dreams 1840-1906, Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, pp. 201-202
197 Quoted from Richard W. Murphy, The World of Cézanne 1839-1906, New York: Time-Life Books, 1968, p. 161
198 Douglas W. Druick, Gloria Groom, Fred Leeman, Maryanne Stevens (ed.), Odilon Redon: prince of dreams 1840-1906, Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, p. 200
199 Ibid, p. 214
200 Ibid.
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expressive experiments”.201 Whereas Cézanne’s still life was an ideal reconciliation of the objective and the subjective that varied intentionally the lines and the masses, disposing his draperies according to pre-mediated rhythms, seeking plastic beauty.202 In 1907, Denis reasserted his position between Redon and Cézanne clearly: “Yes, Redon is at the origin of Symbolism, in what concerns the plastic expression of the ideal; and on the other hand, Cézanne’s example taught us to transpose sensation into elements of the work of art. Redon’s subject is more subjective; Cézanne’s is more objective, but both create by means of a method which has its goal the creation of a concrete object that is both beautiful and represents a sensibility.”203 As I have already mentioned in chapter one, the reason for Denis to choose Cézanne’s painting instead of Redon’s was because Cézanne “has shown the possibility of a classic Renaissance and given works of such nobility of style at a time”.204 Denis presented classicism as the “just equilibrium between nature and style”. He admired Cézanne as a master and discerned the classical qualities of Cézanne’s art, promoting Cézanne’s status as the Poussin of Impressionism who rejuvenated respectively modern art and
201 Denis once wrote: “Le Symbolisme est l’art de traduire et de provoquer des états d’âme au moyen de rapports de couleurs et de formes. Ces rapports, inventés ou empruntés à la nature, deviennent les signes ou symboles de ces états d’âme: ils ont le pouvoir de les suggérer.” Maurice Denis, “Le Symbolisme et l’art religieux moderne”, in Le ciel et l’arcadie, Paris : Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 1993, p. 182
202 “Il composa ses natures-mortes, variant à dessein les lignes et les masses, disposant les draperies selon des rythmes prémédités, évitant les accidents du hasard, cherchant la beauté plastique”, quoted from Maurice Denis, Roger Fry (trans.), “Cézanne-I”, In The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 16, No. 82 (Jan., 1910), pp. 213-214
203 “Oui, Redon est à l’origine du Symbolisme, en tant qu’expression plastique de l’idéal, et d’autre part l’exemple de Cézanne nous enseignait à transposer les données de la sensation en éléments d’oeuvre d’art. Le sujet de Redon est plus subjectif, le suject de Cézanne plus objectif, mais tous deux s’expriment au moyen d’une méthode qui a pour but de créer un object concret, à la fois beau et représentatif d’une sensibilité.” Quoted from Maurice Denis, Roger Fry (trans.), “Cézanne-II”, In The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 16, No. 83 (Feb., 1910), p. 275, French version from Maurice Denis, Jean-Paul Bouillon (ed.), Le ciel et l’arcadie, Paris : Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 1993, p. 140
204 “Cézanne nous fait entrevoir la possibilité d’une Renaissance classique et donné des oeuvres d’une telle supériorité de style.” Quoted from Maurice Denis, Roger Fry (trans.), “Cézanne-II”, In The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Vol. 16, No. 83 (Feb., 1910), p. 276, French version from Maurice Denis, Jean-Paul Bouillon (ed.), Le ciel et l’arcadie, Paris : Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 1993, p. 143
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the young generation.205 For Denis, Cézanne was a sort of classic, material and a representative of classicism.206 Cézanne’s still life not only carries on a pictorial dialogue among the Nabi circle, but his paradoxical status as modern and classic, made even Denis relate him with El Greco. Since El Greco was known to have imposed Catholic doctrine to counter the rising influence of the Protestants,207 and his posthumous fame was reinvented and reevaluated in the nineteenth-century and the twentieth-century, his art was recognized as classical and Catholic for his spiritual expression.208 Denis’ interest in the pursuit of sensation and his combination of classic element and Catholicism made his decision obviously reinforce his strong faith toward Christianity. If Denis’ group refers to Greco’s group in The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, he does not keep the typical structure of the Counter Reformation religious
205 “Cézanne est à la fois l’aboutissement de la tradition classique et le résultat de la grande crise de liberté et de lumière qui a rajeuni l’art moderne. C’est le Poussin de I’impressionnisme.” Quoted from Maurice Denis, Jean-Paul Bouillon (ed.), Le ciel et l’arcadie, Paris: Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 1993, p. 148. As a matter of fact, Denis was not the first one to claim Cézanne’s duality between tradition and modern; Bernard was the first one to discuss Cézanne’s painting with Giotto that casted him in the dual role of both old master and “homme d’aujourd’hui”. The more discussion can see Theodore Reff, “Cézanne and Poussion”, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institute, Vol.
23, No. 1/2 (Jan. – Jun., 1960), pp. 150-174; even though in this essay Reff doubted the typical demonstration that “Cézanne has overcome the shortcomings of Impressionism, especially its loss of structure, and yet has here come as close to nature as ever in his work. It may be said that space, volume, rhythmic tension, and color are built up as concisely in the ‘Grandes baigeuse’ as they are in the ‘Triumph of Flora’, and it is hardly an exaggeration to assert that over a distance of three centuries the same type of painting has come back”, and he investigated the origin of this statement which was came from Bernard, Vollard, Denis, Gasquet and Larguier, examining the texts and influence of them.
Last, Reff concluded the image of Cézanne as reformer of impressionism and reviver of Poussin, first suggested by Bernard and Denis, was already established in the decade following his death, and their statement of Cézanne had influenced the attitude of latter critic for Cézanne. However, despite Reff’s brilliant essay indicates the contradictions for the statement of Poussin and Cézanne, the assertion of Denis to infer the relationship between Poussin and Cézanne is the main issue here for us to realize the reason why Denis chose Cézanne as his admirer.
206 “Cézanne est une sorte de classique et que la jeunesse le tient pour un représentant du
classicisme.” Maurice Denis, Jean-Paul Bouillon (ed.), Le ciel et l’arcadie, Paris: Hermann, éditeurs des sciences et des arts, 1993, p. 131
207 Xavier Bray, El Greco, London: National Gallery Company, 2004, p. 26. In their essays, Katherine Kuenzli and Michael Marlais both conclude that Denis’s Catholic intention had made him to address religious and political dimension in his paintings. See Katherine Marie Kuenzli, “Aesthetics and Cultural Politics in the age of Dreyfus: Maurice Denis’s Homage to Cézanne”, in Art History, Vol. 30, No. 5, 2007, pp. 683-771, and Michael Marlais, “Conservative style/ Conservative politics: Maurice Denis in Le Vésinet”, in Art History, Vol. 16, No. 1 (March 1993), pp. 125-146
208 Athena S. Leoussi, “Civic to ethnic classicism: the cult of the Greek body in late nineteenth century French society and art”, in International Journal of the Classical Tradition, Vol. 16, No. 3/4 (Sep. – Dec., 2009), pp. 393-442
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image. In this point of view, Denis has not only adopted Greco’s group in his composition, but he also related the relationship between the religious and profane world. For Denis, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz was an ideal reconciliation that contains both elements; 209 he indulged in refinement of naturalism and imagination.210 Moreover, after the 1860s France, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz’s mystery, ecstasy, and devoutness make serious and enlightening attempts to hold El Greco up to the mirror of modern art.211 In the above point of view, it seems reasonable to refer to Denis’ intention to classify Cézanne as a representation of Catholic art for spiritual expression or counting him as a member of the group.212 Besides the religious intention, Cézanne’s reputation became linked to the symbolist avant-garde. As a special figure of modernism, he was the best applicant to replace Gauguin and Redon in Denis’ apotheosis of a great artist.213
Although Denis had changed his original project into his homage to Cézanne,
209 In his latter essay that discussed the influence of Cézanne, Denis regarded that “...tout le monde est
209 In his latter essay that discussed the influence of Cézanne, Denis regarded that “...tout le monde est