Bonnard to Vuillard: Art of the Nabis at the Phillips Collection

Bonnard to Vuillard: the Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life  

 The Nabi Collection of Vicki and Roger Sant  

                                             

Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

October 26, 2019 - January 26, 2020

Reviewed by Ed Voves
Original Photography by Anne Lloyd

The band of young French artists from the 1890's known as "Les Nabis" enjoy the unique distinction of having a group name which was not based on a derogatory remark by an art critic. Nor it originate in an over-intellectualized definition. "Nabis" means "Prophets" and it was a very appropriate name.  

The Nabi artists - Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Félix Vallotton, Paul Ranson - launched new approaches to art during the last decade of the ninetheenth century. These Innovations heralded the advent of Modern Art.

The subject matter of the Nabis seems very much in keeping with that of Manet and the Impressionists. They too focused on the"heroism of modern life" and were enthralled with the unusual angles and cropping effects of Japanese prints. 

Unlike Manet, however, Bonnard, Vuillard and the other Nabis relinquished any lingering attachment to the École des Beaux Arts and the annual Salons. Despite the deceptive mildness of their subjects - mothers and children enjoying an afternoon in the garden, a colorfully-clad lady strolling past a bookshop window, a little girl carrying a basket of clean laundry - the Nabis were radicals in art and politics.

Félix Vallotton, Street Scene, 1895

It is fitting then, that the first exhibition devoted to the Nabis in many years should have recently opened at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. The Phillips Collection rightfully proclaims itself the first museum of Modern Art. It should also be noted that Duncan Phillips bought Nabi paintings, especially by Pierre Bonnard, as part of his wide-ranging collection mission.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) 

Gallery view of the Bonnard to Vuillard exhibition at the Phillips Collection

The Nabis are right at home in this wonderful D.C. museum. Indeed, the works of art on view in the exhibition have been pledged as a future gift to the Phillips.

These Nabi paintings, prints, screens, bronze sculptures, ceramics, stained glass and works of fabric art were collected by Vicki and Roger Sant, an art loving couple who were first introduced to "Les Nabis" during a Phillips-sponsored trip to France in 1993. Sadly, Vicki Sant died in 2018. This outstanding exhibition is truly a celebration of her love of art and devotion to sharing with fellow art lovers.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)
 Paul Ranson's Planter, 1896 

While in Paris, the Sants visited the exhibition, Nabis, 1888-1900. This was the last major exhibition to study the Nabis with a detailed, wide-ranging focus. A more recent display of several of the Nabi artists was held in 2001 at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York but was limited to decorative painting by Bonnard, Vuillard, Denis, and Roussel. Compared with art shows devoted to the Impressionists, Nabi exhibitions are very rare indeed.

The Nabis were an eclectic group, held together by a willingness to experiment. There was no single theme uniting them. Maurice Denis (1870-1943), a fervent Christian, devoted many of his paintings to incidents from the Bible, especially during the later part of his career. The Swiss-born Félix Vallotton (1865-1925) was a left-wing political radical. Although Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947) would later gain fame as the "last Impressionist," he did not slavishly follow Monet, Pissarro and Sisley by portraying the natural world as a "here and now" phenomenon.

Maurice Denis, The Musicians, c. 1895

The Nabis were one in a line of break-away groups of rebellious artists, beginning with the Pre-Raphaelites in Britain during the 1850's and reaching across Europe to "Secession" movements, notably Vienna in 1897 and Berlin a year later. In 1903, after the dynamism of the Nabis had largely run its course, Vallotton and Vuillard were to join yet another coalition of revolutionary artists, the Société du Salon d'automne.

The diversity of style exhibited by each of the Nabi artists, however, made creating a group identity a difficult proposition. Unifying factors certainly existed. The Nabis as a group focused upon the details of domestic life. The allure of vibrant color, especially when arranged in intricate patterns, was a constant factor in much of their work. 

Pierre Bonnard, Afternoon in the Garden, 1891

The Nabis also were part of the late-nineteenth century Symbolist movement. Nabi painting, like Symbolist poetry, attempted to represent inner being, the spiritual reality of our lives which is often much closer to hand than we realize.

In 1896, the French philosopher, Henri Bergson, published a major work entitled Substance and Symbol. Bergson explored the interaction of sensations and actions with the ways that people remember and conceptualize the events of their lives. At the same time, the Nabis created works of art with an almost visceral "feel" of fabrics, architectural details and flowers which also serve as touchstones of human experience.

It was a Symbolist poet, Henri Cazalis, who first dubbed the artists "Les Nabis." For Cazalis, the Hebrew word for prophet captured the essence of his friends' devotion to a new artistic dispensation. As the Old Testament prophets had demolished the idols confronting the ancient Israelites, so the iconoclastic young artists would cast down the golden calf of Salon art.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)

Édouard Vuillard's At La Divette, Cabourg: Annette Natanson, Lucy Hessel,                    and Miche Savoir at Breakfast,1913, reworked 1934

Bonnard, Vuillard: the Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life enables art lovers to appreciate the Nabis as a collective body of artists. Up to the moment of examining this superb exhibition at the Phillips, I was unable to do so.

In 2012, I visited the Jewish Museum in New York City, where I saw an excellent retrospective of the art of Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940). Over the years, I have also studied Bonnard's painting in one-man exhibits. In both cases, I was impressed with their technique, but puzzled by what seemed like an avoidance of contact with the dynamism of their times, particularly in the case of Vuillard. 

 Édouard Vuillard, Mother and Child, 1901

In his 1969 book, The Nabis and Their Period, Charles Chassé perceptively quoted from a contemporary account of Vuillard at work:

When Vuillard looked at a scene he did not half-close his eyes like so many painters who wished to preserve on their retina only the essential aspects of what they see; he ceaselessly registered the small details of things… He was enthusiastic about the kaleidoscope of the world, at the risk of repeating himself in an endless symphony like Ravel in his Bolero.

Chassé further noted that Vuillard became a successful portrait painter later in his career, yet retained his interest in the physical environment that was so notable of his Nabi years. He often painted his patrons with only the minimum of physical attributes necessary to establish their identity while depicting their surroundings in lavish detail.

"I don’t paint portraits,” Vuillard declared, “I paint people in their homes.”

    
                                                  Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)                                                        Édouard Vuillard's Interior with Red Bed or The Bridal Chamber, 1893 

This amazing statement should be rephrased: Vuilliard - and his fellow Nabis - painted people in their environments - right now! Most people, even art lovers, live in the moment, at this point of time. 

For this reason, the Nabis took the bold step of disregarding vanishing-point perspective, the key innovation of the Renaissance that defined Western painting when compared to  the art of other cultures. 

Nabi paintings, by contrast, purposely dispensed with depth of vision. Everything is located "in your face," to borrow a modern, often disagreeable expression. Far from creating art in a hermit-like atmosphere, Bonnard, Denis, Vuilliard and the other Nabis created works which were very much in the "here and now."

Along with their accomplishments in painting, the Nabis were masters of printmaking, sculpture and ceramics. Bonnard showed a special aptitude in utilizing screens as an artistic medium.

Pierre Bonnard, Stork and Four Frogs, c. 1889

The influence of Japanese art is obvious in Bonnard's three-panel screen, The Stork and Four Frogs. The color-drenched background, the delicate handling of flowers and ferns, the Stork's almost Zen-like meditative state, underscore the vital role of Japonisme for the art of the Nabis.

There is an intriguing connection to another kind of "screen." This testifies to the Nabis awareness of the experiments leading to the invention of cinematography during the same years as their group was flourishing. Bonnard was friends with the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis, who invented the first true motion picture camera in 1895. This led to the historic showing of the first film on December 28, 1895 to an audience in Paris. 

                                                                                                                                                                   

               

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)

Detail of Pierre Bonnard's Stork and Four Frogs, c. 1889

Bonnard's Stork and the Four Frogs, based on a fable by Jean de la Fontaine, was painted six years earlier in 1889. There is, thus, no direct co-relation with the Lumière brothers' film premiere. Rather, there is a shared sense of fascination with movement. Bonnard depicts the frogs, not as four individuals, but rather as single animal engaged in a four-sequenced act of leaping.

In 1896, Bonnard created a painted screen which he used as the basis for an impressive, five-color lithograph. It was entitled Nannies’ Promenade, Frieze of Carriages. The four frames of the screen appear to show a horse-drawn cab in motion. The effect is similar to the effect of closely examining a roll of the Lumiere brothers’ pioneering film, Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory.

                                                   Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)                                             Pierre Bonnard's Nannies’ Promenade, Frieze of Carriages, c. 1889

Appearances are deceiving. Bonnard shows a cab stand, not a moving cab. The vehicles are parked and the drivers are waiting for customers. Movement there is, however, taking place in the foreground – the zone of action in almost all Nabi works of art. A mother and her bonnet-wearing daughter walk-along and two boys scamper past them rolling their hoops.

Nannies' Promenade or Frieze of Carriages evokes the tremendous vitality of urban life, just as the Lumiere brothers’ films did. Without being directly related to early cinematography, this magnificent work by Bonnard joined in the dynamic transition from static to motion picture art which occurred during the 1890’s.

Every art group, even the supremely individualistic Nabis, will have at least one "odd man out." For the Nabis, this was Ker-Xavier Roussel (1867-1944). Though his talent was never in doubt, Roussel's sense of timing often missed a beat. Early in the Nabi years, his works were largely dark in color tones, while later in his career he integrated mythological elements into his landscapes just a Symbolism and allegory were going out of style.

Roussel achieved perfect harmony with his design for the stained glass window which occupies a central place in the Phillips exhibition. 

                                               Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)                                          Gallery view of the Bonnard to Vuillard exhibition, 

     Ker-Xavier Roussel's The Garden, center 

Roussel designed the cartoon for The Garden in 1895, as part of a commission from the German-born art dealer, Siegfried Bing. Other members of the Nabi group, including Vuilliard and Bonnard, contributed cartoons for the series. Roussel's window, executed by the Tiffany Company, is one of the few to survive from Bing's ill-fated effort to promote the Nabis. Roussel achieved near perfection with this brilliant work, but sadly, French art patrons were unimpressed.

Ker-Xavier Roussel, The Garden, (design), 1894, created by Tiffany Co., 1895

Thanks to the brilliant collecting of Vicki and Roger Sant, the Nabis can be appreciated as individual artists of their era and as leaders of the vanguard of Modernism. The Phillips exhibition is, thus, key to helping us understand the revolution in the visual arts during the last years of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth.

Yet, bold though they were, the Nabis never broke-ranks with that defining expression of French culture: vive la différence!

Look for a moment at Bonnard’s 1896 sketch, The Little Laundry Girl. Open your eyes wide as Vuilliard did while painting. 

This exquisite, lively drawing shows the human spirit enduring and soaring,                        regardless of the circumstances of life. Lurching under the burden of her heavy basket of laundry, the young girl propels herself onward with determination, brio and a sense of style that is particularly Parisian.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)

Detail of Pierre Bonnard's,The Little Laundry Girl, 1896

There is no holding her back, La Petite Blanchisseuse, no keeping her down. She will find her own way forward and do it her way.

The Nabis did the same with their art. Whatever medium they chose for their work, the primacy of each Nabi artist's unique approach to art was paramount. Charles Chassé writes:

To the Nabis a picture had merit only when it possessed “style", that is to say when the artist had succeeded in changing the shape of the objects he was looking at and imposing on them contours or a color that expressed his own personality.

This is what we see displayed to such magnificent effect in the Phillips Collection exhibition, Bonnard to Vuilliard, the Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life.

Vive la différence!

***
Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved. Original photography by Anne Lloyd, all rights reserved.
Images courtesy of the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

Introductory Image:
Félix Vallotton (Swiss, 1865-1925) Passerby (Le Passante), 1897. Oil on cardboard: 
7 7/8 x 11 in. The Phillips Collection, Promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant.

Félix Vallotton (Swiss, 1865-1925) 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.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) Gallery view of the Bonnard to Vuillard exhibition at the Phillips Collection.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019)  Paul Ranson's Planter, 1896. 

Maurice Denis, (French, 1870-1943) The Musicians, c. 1895. Oil on cardboard:

9 5/8 x 13 5/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant.

Pierre Bonnard (French,1867-1947) Afternoon in the Garden (Après-midi au jardin),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.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) Édouard Vuillard's At La Divette, Cabourg: Annette Natanson, Lucy Hessel, and Miche Savoir at Breakfast,1913, reworked 1934.

Édouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940) Mother and Child (Mère et enfant), 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. 

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) Édouard Vuillard's Interior with Red Bed or The Bridal Chamber, 1893.

Pierre Bonnard  (French,1867-1947) The Stork and Four Frogs (Le marabout et les quatre grenouilles), 1889, Three-panel screen; distemper on canvas, 62 3/4 x 21 1/2 in., The Phillips Collection, promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) Detail of Pierre Bonnard's The Stork and Four Frogs, 1889.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) Pierre Bonnard's Nannies’ Promenade, Frieze of Carriages, c. 1889.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) Gallery view of the Bonnard to Vuillard exhibition, Ker-Xavier Roussel's The Garden, center.

Ker-Xavier Roussel (French 1867-1944) The Garden (Le Jardin),1894 (executed by Tiffany & Co. in 1895). Stained glass: 48 7/8 x 36 5/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Promised gift of Vicki and Roger Sant.

Anne Lloyd, Photo (2019) Detail of Pierre Bonnard's The Little Laundry Girl, 1896.

Renoir and Friends at the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

Renoir and Friends: Luncheon of the Boating Party

Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

October 7, 2017 to January 7, 2018

Reviewed by Ed Voves

Impressionism derived a great deal of inspiration from Charles Baudelaire’s ideal of the "Heroism of Modern Life.”  In his review of the Salon of 1846, Baudelaire declared that "our age," the nineteenth century, "is no less rich than ancient times in sublime themes." Baudelaire went on to  assert "that since every age and every people have their own form of beauty, we inevitably have ours."

The heroes and heroines who created these new forms of beauty were men like Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), his friend and fellow painter, Gustave Caillebotte, actresses Ellen Andrée and Jeanne Samary, journalist Adrien Maggiolo and the top-hatted patron of the arts, Charles Ephrussi. 

Portrayed in a legendary painting by Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party, these kindred souls are re-united in an outstanding exhibit at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.

Renoir and Friends at the Phillips displays over forty Impressionist paintings, a rare bronze sculpture by Renoir and vintage photos from the late 1870's and 1880's. These works are grouped around Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party to document a key moment in the story of Impressionism.

"Heroism" is not too strong a word for the cultural achievements of Renoir and his talented friends. And like Hercules, these heroes of "everyday life" had occasionally to rest from their labors. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party (detail), 1880–81.

When they took a break, the Impressionists and their colleagues went to the Maisson Fournaise. This suburban restaurant became a legendary "hangout" like the Café Guerbois, in the heart of Paris, had been during the early days of  Impressionism.

The Maisson Fournaise was located in Chatou, about fourteen kilometers to the west of Paris. The restaurant overlooked the River Seine. For rowing and sailing enthusiasts like Gustave Caillebotte (1848-1894), it was the perfect spot to dock the boat for lunch, a round of drinks and the latest gossip. 

Gustave Caillebotte, A Man Docking His Skiff, 1878

Renoir favored the Maisson Fournaise, too, so much so that he painted the convivial meals he enjoyed there with his friends. His picture, Luncheon of the Boating Party, is among  the greatest of all Impressionist works of art.

Painted over an extended period of time, 1880 to 1881, Luncheon is not an "all in one-sitting" Impressionist work. It is a masterpiece in the Old Master sense, recalling art by Rubens and Watteau. It is a labor of love, created at the high point of the Impressionist movement, which in five years would cease to be a united front as the member artists went their separate ways.

Luncheon of the Boating Party was recognized as a masterpiece right from the start. Its first owner was Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922), the principal art dealer for the Impressionists. It was only sold after Durand-Ruel's death. Luncheon entered the collection of Duncan Phillips (1886-1966), the art enthusiast who opened America's first museum of modern art, the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–81

Phillips first saw Luncheon of the Boating Party in 1911 in Durand-Ruel's gallery. He was so moved that he wrote an essay praising the way that Renoir had conveyed "life's vivacity" in this memorable painting. When the opportunity appeared to purchase Renoir's magnum opus, Phillips paid Durand-Ruel's heirs the astronomical sum of $125,000. 

That was in 1923. Eighteen months earlier, in 1921, Duncan Phillips had opened a small museum at his home, in Washington D.C. Phillips' museum was created to honor his beloved father and brother who had died during the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918.

Phillips' museum was a "heroic" endeavor worthy of Baudelaire's theme. Phillips aimed to create a collection representing the best in modern art. Of the 237 paintings at the museum's founding, 87 were works by masters of American impressionism, including Childe Hassam, John Henry Twatchman and Julian Alden Weir. 

Acquiring Luncheon of the Boating Party was quite a coup by Phillips, enabling art lovers in the U.S. to contrast the works of American Impressionism with one of the signature paintings of the great Renoir.

For all his enthusiasm for Luncheon of the Boating Party, Duncan Phillips did not amass a collection favoring Impressionism, as did his rival, Dr. Albert Barnes. Phillips, in fact, ceased purchasing Impressionist works, except occasionally. After he bought Luncheon of the Boating Party in 1923. Phillips emphasized works by contemporary artists, especially Americans like Arthur Dove, John Marin and Georgia O'Keeffe.

Renoir and Friends at the Phillips is thus a perfect opportunity to investigate the birth of Impressionism in contrast with the subsequent development of Modernism. Almost all of the works in the exhibit (other than Luncheon) come from other museums, including the Musée d'Orsay and the Art Institute of Chicago, and private collections. One has only to move to nearby galleries at the Phillips to trace the cultural impact of Impressionism.

 Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Seine at Argenteuil, 1874

The Renoir and Friends exhibition is arranged with displays highlighting life and leisure along the Seine river. The Impressionists had long favored France's great river in their works. Monet along with Renoir had painted many scenes at Argenteuil early in the 1870's. Like Chatou, Argenteuil was a short train ride from Paris. Active, hardworking people from Paris came for a day in the country, through there are plenty of signs of industrialism and urban sprawl in the paintings of the Impressionists.

Other galleries in the exhibit are devoted to the women and the men we see relaxing in Luncheon of the Boating Party. Some of the greatest contemporary actresses of the period are depicted in Luncheon. These actresses are familiar faces as they often modeled for their painter friends. Ellen Andrée, who is draining a glass of wine in Luncheon, was the downcast protagonist in L'Absinthe by Edgar Degas. She certainly seems to be enjoying herself more in Renoir's painting.

I was especially pleased to see Renoir's A Girl with a Fan from the Clark Art Institute in  Williamstown, Massachusetts. I stumbled on the Clark many years ago during a New England vacation. A Girl with a Fan lodged in my memory with its blending of Impressionist technique and Old Mastery sensibility. Seeing this splendid work of art after all these years was like meeting an old friend.

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), A Girl with a Fan by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1879-1880 

A Girl with a Fan is likely an idealized portrait of Jeanne Samary (1857-1890), one of the leading players of the Comédie-Française. The exhibit displays several photos of Jeanne Samary, who had a much fuller face than the young woman depicted in the painting. In one of the photos, the actress looks at the viewer with a big, friendly grin quite different from the demure smile of A Girl with a Fan.

In Luncheon of the Boating Party, Jeanne Samary is believed to be the woman holding her ears. Around the time that Renoir was painting Luncheon, Samary's name was frequently mentioned in the tattle columns of Paris newspapers. Her plans to marry the wealthy aristocrat, Paul Legard, had aroused the bitter opposition of his parents, The hands over her ears likely denote Samary's dismay about being the "talk of the town."

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party (detail), 1880–81

Frequent use of "believed to be" or "likely" may lead to the conclusion that sloppy guesswork was involved in trying to establish the respective identities of the "Boating Party." Instead, an incredible amount of scholarship, beginning with the efforts of the German art historian, Julius Meier-Graefe (1867-1935), has been devoted to the study of Luncheon of the Boating Party.

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Placement Chart for Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party

An elaborate chart of Luncheon is on view in the exhibition. Each of the identities or presumed identities of the protagonists is marked by number. The seated male character (number 8 on the right) looking out toward the river is certainly Gustave Caillebotte, yearning to get back to his boat. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party (detail), 1880–81

The young woman (number 2) playing with the little dog is Renoir's girl friend and soon-to-be wife, Aline Charigot. Just twenty years old in 1879, Charigot was a seamstress and thus came from a working-class background like Renoir. 

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Portrait of Madame Renoir by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, c.1885

Once again, this is a somewhat idealized likeness. The wonderful portrait from the Philadelphia Museum of Art collection, painted around 1885, is much more accurate. The sitter was Madame Renoir by then and Renoir was clearly in love with the "unidealized" woman he married.

Why did Renoir include so many "somewhat idealized" portraits in Luncheon of the Boating Party? Renoir was the greatest portrait painter among the Impressionists. It was not for lack of talent, but rather, I think, because he was aiming to depict a "universal" moment, a meeting of minds, hearts and souls that would stand the test of time.

Renoir certainly devoted a great deal of effort to achieve this goal. The final gallery of the exhibit analyses the careful configuration of the protagonists which Renoir devoted to Luncheon of the Boating Party. 

Detail comparison of Luncheon of the Boating Party, infrared photo at right.

An infrared photo of Luncheon, shows that Renoir changed the angle of the head of Charles Ephrussi (1849-1905), wearing a top hat in the background. At first, Renoir had Ephrussi looking toward the river, as he did with Caillebotte. But then he shifted Ephrussi's gaze toward his companion, believed to be Jules Laforgue. Ephrussi was the editor of the influential Gazette des Beaux-Arts and Laforgue was his personal secretary. Business, as well as pleasure, was the subject of conversation at the Maisson Fournaise.

Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party recorded a special moment in French history as well as representing universal human qualities and aspirations. When displayed at the Seventh Impressionist Exhibition in 1882, Renoir's painting was the hit of the exhibit.  

The 1880's, however, were a tense period in French history. The decade was marked by bank failures, the Boulanger Affair which nearly toppled the Third Republic, the rise of anti-Semitism soon to ignite the Dreyfus Affair. Renoir, by most accounts a splendid man, succumbed to anti-Jewish feeling and turned on Charles Ephrussi, who came from a distinguished Jewish banking family.

Happiness, alas, never lasts for long. Perhaps that is why Luncheon of the Boating Party strikes such a chord with so many people. 

What we see happening at the Maisson Fournaise in 1879 is a moment in Paradise Lost. Brief, transitory, heart-warming and heart-breaking. Such moments are short-lived, except in our memories and in the paintings of Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

***
Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved 


Introductory Image:                                                                                                          Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Detail of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–81. Oil on canvas, 51 1/4 x 69 1/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1923

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Detail of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–81. Oil on canvas, 51 1/4 x 69 1/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1923

Gustave Caillebotte, A Man Docking His Skiff, 1878. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/2 in. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo: Katherine Wetzel © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–81. Oil on canvas, 51 1/4 x 69 1/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1923

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, The Seine at Argenteuil,1874. Oil on canvas, 19 3/4 x 25 3/4 in. Portland Art Museum, Oregon, Bequest of Winslow B. Ayer

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), A Girl with a Fan by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Oil on canvas, 65,4 x 54 cm c. 1879- 1880, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts 

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Detail of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–81. Oil on canvas, 51 1/4 x 69 1/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1923

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Placement Chart for Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, exhibited at the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Detail of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, 1880–81. Oil on canvas, 51 1/4 x 69 1/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, Acquired 1923

Ed Voves, Photo (2017), Portrait of Madam Renoir by Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Oil on canvas, Framed: 36 × 30 1/2 × 5 inches (91.4 × 77.5 × 12.7 cm) Philadelphia Museum of Art, W1957-1-1, Purchased with the W. P. Wilstach Fund, 1957

Detail comparison of Luncheon of the Boating Party, exhibited at the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

Gauguin to Picasso: Masterworks from Switzerland at the Phillips Collection

Gauguin to Picasso: Masterworks from Switzerland

The Staechelin and Im Obersteg Collections

October 10, 2015 to January 10, 2016

Reviewed by Ed Voves

No one knows for certain what was the last painting created by Vincent van Gogh. That sad honor may well belong to a work currently on view in a special exhibit at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C. Van Gogh's The Garden of Daubigny, painted during the early summer of 1890, is one of the remarkable works appearing in Gauguin to Picasso: Masterworks from Switzerland - the Staechelin and Im Obersteg Collections.

The selected works from the two Swiss collections at the Phillips Collection include other masterpieces of early Modernism. But it is appropriate to begin this review with The Garden of Daubigny. For one thing, this poignant work was the first painting to greet my eyes in the exhibit. It was the work of art that I most wanted to see - and it did not disappoint.

        

             

Vincent van Gogh, The Garden of Daubigny, 1890

There is a wistful note to the presence of The Garden of Daubigny in the exhibit at the Phillips. This "double-square" sized painting was purchased by the Swiss businessman, Rudolf Staechelin, during World War I. Staechelin was a far-sighted collector. Van Gogh was still a controversial figure to many in the art establishment nearly three decades afer his death. One can only wonder what the course of van Gogh's life - and of Modern art  - might have been had there been a figure like Staechelin or the other Swiss patron of art, Karl Im Obersteg, willing to purchase works by the tortured Dutch artist while he lived.

If one is looking for a significant "message" in Gauguin to Picasso at the Phillips Collection it is the vital role of the patron in the nurturing of art. Rudolf Staechelin, Karl Im Obersteg and their American contemporary, Duncan Phillips, founder of the Phillips Collection, played a vital role in the story of Modern art. Without such patrons - willing to take a risk to their bank accounts and their reputations - many of the artists  whose works appear in the exhibition and in the galleries of the Phillips would have starved or faded into oblivion.

If one is looking for a note of controversy in the exhibit, Paul Gauguin’s NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?) will provide it. This painting, removed from the Swiss museum where it was long displayed, was sold by Staechelin's descendants for a record-smashing $300 million. This has raised serious questions about the viability of the public display of privately-owned art works.

Paul Gauguin, NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?), 1892

Rudolf Staechelin bought NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?) during a brief but brilliant collecting campaign as war raged throughout Europe. His collection has been on extended loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel for much of the period since his death in 1946. 

When the Kunstmuseum Basel closed recently for renovations, the Staechelin Family Trust planned a travelling exhibition. The Kunstmuseum Basel, unwisely, balked at the idea. The contract was cancelled by the Staechelin Family Trust and 18 paintings, including NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?), were withdrawn from the museum.

The Staechelin Family Trust stated that their action was based on opposition to a legal sanction known as the Undroit Convention. This was originally established to prevent the export of stolen works of art. But the ambiguous phrasing of the document has led to protests by other art groups and institutions besides the Staechelin Family Trust. 

The sale of NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?) hardly seems in keeping with opposition to "red tape" and  bureaucracy. With much of their family assets tied up in these masterpieces, no doubt the Staechelin Family Trust felt that one of these works needed to be sold to generate some revenue.

Everyone has bills to pay.

This episode, in turn, underlines the importance of private institutions like the Phillips Collection.  Duncan Phillips established his museum during the 1920's to afford a lasting venue for the care, study and display of great works of art. That is the reason why the Phillips Collection is the perfect site to to consider the role of the patrons of Modernism.

Duncan Phillips (1886–1966) was an almost exact contemporary of Rudolf Staechelin (1881-1946) and Karl Im Obersteg (1883-1969). Staechelin relied on art agents like Bernheim-Jeune from whom he puchased The Garden of Daubigny for 35,000 Swiss francs in February 1918.  

Pablo Picasso, Harlequin with Black Mask, 1918

Staechelin excelled at making a quick strike based on agents' reports. He purchased Picasso's Harlequin with Black Mask, 1918, soon after it was painted. This was just as the rappel à l'ordre (call to order) was being proclaimed by Jean Cocteau, who called for a revived classicism in art.

Phillips bought works from art agents too, notably Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party, which he purchased in 1923 from the firm of Durand-Ruel. More importantly, Phillips supported living artists, some yet to make their mark. Others like Arthur Dove were established figures, but struggling in the Depression decade of 1930's.There is a gallery adjacent to the Gauguin to Picasso exhibit where the philosophy in action of Duncan Phillips is brilliantly illustrated.

This nurturing approach to art was shared by the second of the Swiss collectors, Karl Im Obersteg. Given the masterpiece status of many of Staechelin's paintings, it is easy to glide by the works by Alexej von Jawlensky (1864-1941). This Russian-born painter had been a member of the Blue Rider group, organized by Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. Jawlensky fled to Switzerland at the outbreak of World War I. Im Obersteg was a loyal patron, amassing a major collection of Jawlensky's works, which are comparatively rare in American museums and collections.

Alexej von Jawlensky, Abstract Head: Mysterium, 1925

Diversity of theme and style characterizes Jawlensky's work. Many of his paintings, like Abstract Head: Mysterium, painted in 1925, possess a symbolical or mystical nuance. This was also true of the paintings of Georges Rouault, another painter favored by Karl Im Obersteg.

Georges Rouault, Landscape with Red Sail, 1939

If Jawlensky and Rouault lack name recognition in the U.S., that does not mean that Karl Im Obersteg only specialized in lesser known painters. He too purchased  works by Picasso like the remarkable The Absinthe Drinker. This work was created in 1901, on one side of a double-sided canvas, with Woman at the Theater on the other. Im Obersteg also bought a fine portrait by Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Mrs. Dorival, painted around 1916.

Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Mrs. Dorival, c.1916

These signature works may establish the range of Im Obersteg's taste as a collector. But Marc Chagall's three rabbi paintings from 1914 evoke an almost prophetic stature for both the painter and the patron. Whether you focus on each individual painting, as in Jew in Black and White, or study all three together, they form a triptych-like presentation of living faith. 

Marc Chagall, Jew in Black and White, 1914

In many ways, these outstanding works by Chagall form the heart of the Gauguin to Picasso exhibition, rendering all the attention to NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?) a bit wide of the mark.

As you make your way through the exhibit, you may be struck by the "safeness" of much of the art bought by Rudolf Staechelin and Karl Im Obersteg. 

It needs to be kept in mind, however, that the first purchase of a Cezanne for an American art museum only occurred in 1913. This was Cezanne's View of the Domaine Saint-Joseph, painted around 1888  and bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art at the New York Armory Show. 
  

Paul Cézanne, Glass and Apples, 1879–1882

If not radicals or revolutionaries, Rudolf Staechelin and Karl Im Obersteg were patrons of vision whose astute purchases of Modern art helped establish the great artists of Modernism. Staechelin and Im Obersteg  were members of a generation of collectors of genius which included Samuel Courtauld in Great Britain, Dr. Albert Barnes and Duncan Phillips in the United States.
   
All of these men attempted to find ways of sharing their treasured works of art with the public. And for decades their various methods of collection display, either at public museums like Kunstmuseum Basel or at independent facilities which they created, like the Barnes Foundation or the Phillips Collection, seemed to work.   

Then the BIG MONEY hit the art world during the 1980's. Noblesse oblige was no longer enough to raise the funds to purchase (or in some cases protect) notable works of art. 

This is the "way of the world" of the art world these days. We need to carefully consider this disturbing trend. Not only does it apply to "pros and cons" related to the sale of NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?). The viability of museum trusteeship of great art is at risk. 

The role of patrons in supporting creative artists and of public museums to conserve and display their work cannot be dismissed as relics of a bygone era. Whatever the next phase in the world of art, anyone involved in the decision-making behind endowments and museum policy would be well to reflect on these wise words by Duncan Phillips:
   
The really good things of all ages and all periods can be brought together in one room with such delightful result that we recognize the universality of art and the special affinities of artists.                                                                                                                                                                                     
***
Text: Copyright of Ed Voves, all rights reserved 

Images Courtesy of the Phillips Collection, Washington D.C.

Introductory Image: 
Pablo Picasso, The Absinthe Drinker [verso:Woman at the Theater], 1901. Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 x 23 5/8 in. Im Obersteg Foundation,  permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel
© 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Vincent van Gogh, The Garden of Daubigny, 1890. Oil on canvas, 22 x 40 in. The Rudolf Staechelin Collection © Kunstmuseum Basel, Martin P. Bühler

Paul Gauguin, NAFEA faaipoipo (When Will You Marry?), 1892. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 1/2 in. The Rudolf Staechelin Collection © Kunstmuseum Basel, Martin P. Bühler

Pablo Picasso, Harlequin with Black Mask, 1918. Oil on wood, 45 5/8 x 35 in. The Rudolf Staechelin Collection © 2015 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Alexej von Jawlensky, Abstract Head: Mysterium, 1925. Oil on linen-finish paper laid down on cardboard, 16 3/4 x 12 3/4 in. Im Obersteg Foundation, permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Georges Rouault, Landscape with Red Sail, 1939. Oil on paper laid down on gauze, 19 3/4 x 33 in. Im Obersteg Foundation, permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo © Mark Gisler, Müllheim. Image © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris


Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait of Mrs. Dorival, c.1916. Oil on canvas, 24 x 15 in. Im Obersteg Foundation, permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel © Mark Gisler, Müllheim

Marc Chagall, Jew in Black and White, 1914. Oil on cardboard laid down on canvas, 39 3/4 x 31 1/2 in. Im Obersteg Foundation, permanent loan to the Kunstmuseum Basel © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris

Paul Cézanne, Glass and Apples, 1879–1882. Oil on canvas, 12 3/8 x 15 3/4 in. The Rudolf Staechelin Collection © Kunstmuseum Basel, Martin P. Bühler