Bonnard to Vuillard: The Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life – The Nabi Collection of Vicki and Roger Sant

The Phillips Collection

October 26, 2019 – January 26, 2020

The Phillips Collection has opened Bonnard to Vuillard: The Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life – The Nabi Collection of Vicki and Roger Sant. This presentation, planned in conjunction with a major promised gift of art from Vicki and Roger Sant, features over 40 rarely - seen paintings and works on paper as well as two major print portfolios from one of the finest private collections of Nabi art in the United States.

Bonnard to Vuillard: The Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life sheds new light on the decade of the 1890s that gave rise to the vanguard inventions of a leading group of European artists who became known as the “Nabis” ( Hebrew word for prophet). 

On view October 26, 2019 – January 26, 2020 , this exhibition will showcase paintings, prints, and works of decorative art by eight visionary artists, all from the holdings of Vicki and Roger Sant, dedicated collectors with a keen eye for exquisite examples of the Nabi aesthetic. By juxtaposing works by Pierre Bonnard,  Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, and Ker - Xavier Roussel, among others, across a range of media, including stained glass, ceramics, needlepoint, printmaking , and painting, the exhibition will reveal the various ways in which the Nabis translated their artistic methods across the fine and decorative arts. Inspired by Paul Gauguin in the last decade of the 19 th century, the Nabi painters rejected naturalism and embraced the a bstract power of color as a vehicle for personal expression.

Stylistically diverse, its members included Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard as well as Maurice Denis, Félix Vallotton, Aristide Maillol, Ker - X avier Roussel, and Paul Ranson . They experimented with painting, ceramics, stained glass, textiles, theatrical sets and costumes, and more , blurring the lines between the fine and decorative arts. The Nabis were also prolific printmakers, and their lithographs, poster designs, book illustrations, theater programs, and contributions to the literary journals, or “little reviews,” that proliferate.

 

PierreBonnard, Le marabout et les quatre grenouilles (The Stork andthe Four Frogs), 1889,Three-panel screen; distemper on canvas, 62 3/4x 21 1/2 in.,The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant



Pierre Bonnard, Après-midi au jardin (Afternoon in the Garden), 1891, Oil and pen and ink on canvas, 14 3/4 x 17 3/4 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant



Pierre Bonnard, Scène de famille (Family Scene), From L’Estampe originale, no. 1, 1893, Lithograph printed in four colors, 22 3/4 x 16 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant.




Maurice Denis, Mère et enfant (Mother and Child), 1898, Oil on canvas, 18 x 15 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant.




Maurice Denis, Les Musiciennes (Musicians), 1895, Oil on cardboard, 9 5/8 x 13 5/8 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant




Aristide Maillol, La Ramasseuse d’herbes (Herb Picker), 1925, Bronze, 6 x 4 x 7 1/4 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant.





Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Cover for L'Estampe originale, Album I, publiée par les Journal des Artistes, 1893, Lithograph printed in six colors on folded wove paper, 23 × 32 5/8 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant

 

Félix Vallotton, Scène de rue(Street Scene), 1895, Oil on cardboard, 10 1/4 x 13 3/8 in.,The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant

 

Félix Vallotton, Le passante(The Passage), 1897, Oil on cardboard, 7 7/8 x 11 in.,The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant

 

Édouard Vuillard,Intérieur au lit rouge ou La chambre nuptiale (Interiorwith Red Bed or The Bridal Chamber), 1893, Oil on board mounted on cradled panel, 12 3/4 x 20 7/8 in.,  The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant

 

Édouard Vuillard, Mère et enfant(Mother and Child), 1901, Oil on cardboard, mounted on cradled panel, 20 1/8 x 19 3/4 in.,The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant

 

Édouard Vuillard, The Pastry Shop (La Pâtisserie)From Landscapes and Interiors(Paysages et intérieurs), 1899, Lithograph printed in seven colors on China paper, 15 3/4x 12 3/8 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant

d in Paris at the fin de siècle , were a major part of their practice.

CATALOGUE

A catalogue of the same title  published by Rizzoli Electa in association with The Phillips Collection, accompanies the exhibition. E dited by Elsa Smithgall , it includes contributions by Sarah Bertalan , Isabelle Cahn, Clément Dessy, Dorothy Kosinski, and Katherine M. Kuenzli . The richly - illustrated book features a conversation between the collectors and Dorothy Kosinski , as well as essays exploring the role of the Nabi in the early histories of modern art, the influence of Symbolist poetry and literature, and the innovative techniques of Nabi printmaking.