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Maurice Denis
(1870-1943)
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Homage to Cezanne
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Bacchus and Ariadne, 1907
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Born in Granville, France, Maurice Denis was a leading forerunner in the Nabis group of painters. The Nabis, which means “prophet” in Hebrew, were a group of spiritual symbolists. Along with being a painter, Denis was also a writer and his theories on painting were considered crucial in the foundation of the Fauvist, Abstract and Cubist movements. In fact, Denis was the first to write and publish the Le Nabis manifesto explaining their symbolist and religious ideals.
During his artistic career, Denis dabbled in a number of artistic endeavors from carpet design to stained glass, ceramics, lithographs, advertisements and cartoons.
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La Depeche de Toulouse, 1892
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Denis received his first formal training at the Academie Julian and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. There, he was influenced by Gaugin and began to paint in a synthetic style.
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Soir Trinitaire, 1891
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He traveled to Italy in the late 1890’s, and his work at this time is very original and is infused with Italian renaissance style. Denis would also be later commissioned to work in Russia and Geneva, decorating ceilings and panels in their theaters and churches.
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Child in an Apron, 1889
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Femme Etendent du Linge
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The bulk of Denis’s oeuvre consists of figure studies and landscapes in varying styles. His themes were often of a religious nature, consisting of Jesus figures, crosses and virgin symbols.
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Annunciation
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The Road to Calvary, 1889
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Denis was also noted for his use of color—his color palate is certainly a pre-cursor for the bright colors of the Fauves.
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The Offertory at Calvary, 1890
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While Denis typically worked in oil on canvas, it was not unusual for him to experiment with other mediums as well, such as gouache on other surfaces such as cardboard.
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One of the most intriguing things about this artist is that he did not seem to be married to one certain type of style or another. While many artists grow and change their styles throughout their career, Denis seemed to jump around and embody all of them from Pointillism to post-Impressionism and from Abstract to Symbolist and even in the style of the Realist old masters in “Homage to Cezanne.” He did not paint in specific patterns or specific styles at any given time—rather it seemed as though he preferred to paint in whatever way his subject required.
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Green Trees, 1893
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Denis was, above all, an art philosopher and theorist, and was famously quoted saying
“Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors and assembled in a certain order.”
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Taches de Soleil sur la Terasse, 1890
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While he obviously painted in a certain order, known only to him, this may make authenticating his paintings difficult for an untrained eye. Allow us to help you research a mysterious painting that you may own…it could be by Maurice Denis.
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