Édouard Vuillard
Encyclopedia
Jean-Édouard Vuillard was a French painter
and printmaker
associated with the Nabis
.
(Saône-et-Loire
); in 1878 his family moved to Paris in modest circumstances. After his father's death in 1884, Vuillard received a scholarship to continue his education. In the Lycée Condorcet
Vuillard met Ker Xavier Roussel (also a future painter and Vuillard's future brother in law), Maurice Denis
, musician Pierre Hermant, writer Pierre Véber
, and Aurélien Lugné-Poë
.
In 1885, Vuillard left the Lycée Condorcet. On the advice of his closest friend, Roussel, he refused a military career and joined Roussel at the studio of painter Diogène Maillart. There, Roussel and Vuillard received the rudiments of artistic training. In 1887, after three unsuccessful attempts, Vuillard passed the entrance examination for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
. Vuillard kept a private journal from 1888–1905 and later from 1907 to 1940.
and Paul Sérusier
, he had joined the Nabis, a group of art students inspired by the synthetism
of Gauguin
. He contributed to their exhibitions at the Gallery of Le Barc de Boutteville
, and later shared a studio with fellow Nabis Bonnard and Maurice Denis. In the early 1890s he worked for the Théâtre de l'Œuvre
of Lugné-Poë designing settings and programs.
In 1898 Vuillard visited Venice and Florence
. The following year he made a trip to London
. Later he went to Milan
, Venice and Spain. Vuillard also traveled in Brittany
and Normandy
.
Vuillard first exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants of 1901 and at the Salon d'Automne
in 1903.
In the 1890s Vuillard met the brothers Alexandre and Thadée Natanson, the founders of the Revue Blanche. In 1892, on their advice, Vuillard painted his first decorations ("apartment fresco
es") for the house of Mme Desmarais. Subsequently he fulfilled many other commissions of this kind: in 1894 for Alexandre Natanson, in 1898 for Claude Anet, in 1908 for Bernstein, and in 1913 for Bernheim and for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
. The last commissions he received date to 1937 (Palais de Chaillot in Paris, with Bonnard) and 1939 (Palais des Nations in Geneva
, with Denis, Roussel and Chastel).
In his paintings and decorative pieces Vuillard depicted mostly interiors, streets and gardens. Marked by a gentle humor, they are executed in the delicate range of soft, blurred colors characteristic of his art. Living with his mother, a dressmaker, until the age of sixty, Vuillard was very familiar with interior and domestic spaces. Much of his art reflected this influence, largely decorative and often depicting very intricate patterns.
In 1912 Vuillard painted Théodore Duret in his Study, a commissioned portrait that signalled a new phase in Vuillard's work, which was dominated by portraiture from 1920 onwards.
Vuillard served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal
in awarding the Prix Blumenthal
, a grant given between 1919-1954 to young French painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.
Vuillard died in La Baule in 1940.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and printmaker
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
associated with the Nabis
Les Nabis
Les Nabis were a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who set the pace for fine arts and graphic arts in France in the 1890s. Initially a group of friends interested in contemporary art and literature, most of them studied at the private art school of Rodolphe Julian in Paris in the...
.
Early years and education
Jean-Édouard Vuillard, the son of a retired captain, spent his youth at CuiseauxCuiseaux
Cuiseaux is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France.-References:*...
(Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire
Saône-et-Loire is a French department, named after the Saône and the Loire rivers between which it lies.-History:When it was formed during the French Revolution, as of March 4, 1790 in fulfillment of the law of December 22, 1789, the new department combined parts of the provinces of southern...
); in 1878 his family moved to Paris in modest circumstances. After his father's death in 1884, Vuillard received a scholarship to continue his education. In the Lycée Condorcet
Lycée Condorcet
The Lycée Condorcet is a school founded in 1803 in Paris, France, located at 8, rue du Havre, in the city's IXe arrondissement. Since its inception, various political eras have seen it given a number of different names, but its identity today honors the memory of the Marquis de Condorcet. The...
Vuillard met Ker Xavier Roussel (also a future painter and Vuillard's future brother in law), Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis
Maurice Denis was a French painter and writer, and a member of the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, and abstract art.-Childhood and education:...
, musician Pierre Hermant, writer Pierre Véber
Pierre Véber
Pierre-Eugène Veber was a French playwright and writer.-Theatre 1897–1910:*1897: Dix ans après, comedy in one act, with Lucien Muhlfeld, premiered in Paris at the Théâtre de l'Odéon 5 April 1897...
, and Aurélien Lugné-Poë
Aurélien Lugné-Poe
Aurélien-François Lugné-Poë born Aurélien-François-Marie Lugné was a French actor, theatre director, and scenic designer best known for his work at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre, one of the first theatrical venues in France to provide a home for the artists of the Symbolist Movement at the end of the...
.
In 1885, Vuillard left the Lycée Condorcet. On the advice of his closest friend, Roussel, he refused a military career and joined Roussel at the studio of painter Diogène Maillart. There, Roussel and Vuillard received the rudiments of artistic training. In 1887, after three unsuccessful attempts, Vuillard passed the entrance examination for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
. Vuillard kept a private journal from 1888–1905 and later from 1907 to 1940.
Les Nabis and after
By 1890, the year in which Vuillard met Pierre BonnardPierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.-Biography:...
and Paul Sérusier
Paul Sérusier
Paul Sérusier was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabi movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism.- Education :...
, he had joined the Nabis, a group of art students inspired by the synthetism
Synthetism
Synthetism is a term used by post-Impressionist artists like Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin to distinguish their work from Impressionism. Earlier, Synthetism has been connected to the term Cloisonnism, and later to Symbolism...
of Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
. He contributed to their exhibitions at the Gallery of Le Barc de Boutteville
Le Barc de Boutteville
The art gallery of Le Barc de Boutteville, at 47 Rue Le Peletier, was one of the few places in Paris where young artists were welcome to present their work to the public, in the years after the death of Theo van Gogh and before Ambroise Vollard opened his gallery.-1892:*Peintres Impressionnistes et...
, and later shared a studio with fellow Nabis Bonnard and Maurice Denis. In the early 1890s he worked for the Théâtre de l'Œuvre
Théâtre de l'Œuvre
The Théâtre de l'Œuvre is a Paris theatre, located atop cité Monthiers, at 55 rue de Clichy in the 9° arrondissement in Paris, France. It is best known as the theatre where Alfred Jarry’s nihilistic farce Ubu Roi premiered in 1896....
of Lugné-Poë designing settings and programs.
In 1898 Vuillard visited Venice and Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
. The following year he made a trip to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Later he went to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Venice and Spain. Vuillard also traveled in Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
and Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
.
Vuillard first exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants of 1901 and at the Salon d'Automne
Salon d'Automne
In 1903, the first Salon d'Automne was organized by Georges Rouault, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Angele Delasalle and Albert Marquet as a reaction to the conservative policies of the official Paris Salon...
in 1903.
In the 1890s Vuillard met the brothers Alexandre and Thadée Natanson, the founders of the Revue Blanche. In 1892, on their advice, Vuillard painted his first decorations ("apartment fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es") for the house of Mme Desmarais. Subsequently he fulfilled many other commissions of this kind: in 1894 for Alexandre Natanson, in 1898 for Claude Anet, in 1908 for Bernstein, and in 1913 for Bernheim and for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...
. The last commissions he received date to 1937 (Palais de Chaillot in Paris, with Bonnard) and 1939 (Palais des Nations in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, with Denis, Roussel and Chastel).
In his paintings and decorative pieces Vuillard depicted mostly interiors, streets and gardens. Marked by a gentle humor, they are executed in the delicate range of soft, blurred colors characteristic of his art. Living with his mother, a dressmaker, until the age of sixty, Vuillard was very familiar with interior and domestic spaces. Much of his art reflected this influence, largely decorative and often depicting very intricate patterns.
In 1912 Vuillard painted Théodore Duret in his Study, a commissioned portrait that signalled a new phase in Vuillard's work, which was dominated by portraiture from 1920 onwards.
Vuillard served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal
Florence Meyer Blumenthal
Florence Meyer Blumenthal was a philanthropist who founded the Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal , which awarded the Prix Blumenthal from 1919-1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians — to promote Franco- American relations.For their altruism,...
in awarding the Prix Blumenthal
Prix Blumenthal
The Prix Blumenthal was a grant or stipend awarded through the philanthropy of Florence Meyer Blumenthal — and the foundation she created, Fondation franco-américaine Florence Blumenthal — to discover young French artists, aid them financially, and in the process draw the United States...
, a grant given between 1919-1954 to young French painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers, and musicians.
Vuillard died in La Baule in 1940.
Selected works
- The Green Interior or Figure in front of a Window with Drawn Curtains (1891)
- Self Portrait (1892)
- Woman Sweeping (1892)
- Mother and Sister of the Artist (1893)
- The Yellow Curtain (1893)
- Married Life (1894)
- Woman in Blue With Child (Misia Natanson with Mimi Godebska, rue Saint-Florentin) (1899)
- Le Déjeuner à Villeneuve-sur-YonneVilleneuve-sur-YonneVilleneuve-sur-Yonne is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France.It is surrounded by a partly intact wall, built during the 12th century, which was one of the 8 residences of the French kings.-Geography:...
(1902)
Publications
- Edouard Vuillard & Claude Roger-MarxClaude Roger-MarxClaude Roger-Marx , was a French writer, and playwright, as well as an art critic and art historian like his father Roger Marx...
, Vuillard:His Life & Work, Paul Elek 1946 ASIN B00MJ444M - Pierre Bonnard,Correspondence-Bonnard -Vuillard, Gallimard 2001 ISBN 978-2070760-763
Further reading
- Frèches-Thory, Claire, & Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, ed.: Die Nabis: Propheten der Moderne, Kunsthaus Zürich & Grand Palais, Paris & Prestel, Munich 1993 ISBN 3791319698 (German), (French)
- Guy Cogerval, Vuillard-Master of the Intimate Interior, Thames & Hudson, London 2002 ISBN 0-500-30109-3
- Guy Cogeval and Antoine Salomon, Vuillard: Critical Catalogues of Paintings and Pastels, Paris: Milan: Skila, 2003.
- Claude Roger-Marx, The Graphic work of Edouard Vuillard, San Francisco: Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1990.
- Edouard Vuillard, Edouard Vuillard, JPL Fine Arts, 1985 ASIN B00100R0HC
External links
- Le Déjeuner à Villeneuve-sur-Yonne
- Vuillard's Biography and works
- Vuillard at Musée d'Orsay
- Vuilard at Joconde (the central database of the collections of the state museums of France)
- Vuillard at Réunion des musées nationaux
- Vuillard at National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Vuillard at The Museum of Modern Art, New York