Paul Sérusier (1864-1927)

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It so happened that we have gradually formed a collection of Nabi artists - almost by accident. Then too it makes sense to continue. Now Playing Paul Sérusier, and I picked up a bigger image, because maybe he is not as famous as my previous victims, Dai images harder to find.

Extremely capable, inquisitive, friendly and witty, and in 1875 he enrolled at the Lycée Condorcet. In 1885 he enrolled in painting at the Academy Julian, where he befriended Maurice Denis, Emile Bernard, Paul Ransonom. Together they went to museums and exhibitions, together visited Pere Tanguy, who showed them the landscapes of Cézanne. In autumn 1888 Sérusier went to Brittany and stayed in PONT AVEN. There he became acquainted with Gauguin, who gave him some valuable advice in order to liberate the young from the imitative Sérusier academic painting - Gauguin advised him to write pure colors to make their paintings and decorative symbolism.

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Following these tips, Sérusier painted "Talisman", which he proudly showed to his friends on his return to Paris. He enthusiastically talked about the artists whose work he saw in PONT AVEN, and, according to Maurice Dehn, launched this propaganda in favor of "modern painting". It even came to blows. Eventually Sérusier and his friends formed a group which they called "Prophet" (Nabi).

The exhibition, organized by Gauguin in June 18898, has been greeted enthusiastically Sérusier. "I am with you" - he said artists Pont-Avenskoy group. In the summer of that year he moved to Brittany. They make sketches in the open air, allg in the studio writing from memory, do not hesitate to change the actual landscape in search of greater expressiveness.

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Finding decorative Sérusier Gauguin went even further: in his works of this time he seems to be weaving a dense grid of horizontals and verticals, to remove them from the depths.
Returning to Paris, he continued to attend the Academy. The group this fall joined Nabi Armin Seguin, Vuillard and Roussel. Every week he organizes a workshop Ransona meetings to discuss mainly the issues of art. Sérusier wishing explains the technique and aesthetics of painting symbolism. "He tried to find a formula for art Gauguin. He systematized the idea of Gauguin, did its doctrine "(Maurice Denis). These terms are increasingly interested in symbolism and the occult.
After the departure of Paul Gauguin in Tahiti in 1891, artists, sostlavlyavshie Nabi group, began to develop in their own way.
Sérusier returned to Brittany, but not in Pont-Aven, Gauguin abandoned, and in a wooded area in the depth of the region. He wrote canvases, which depicts these forests, which suppress the small human figures. Recurring themes of hard work residents of this impoverished area.
Color is also changing: instead of open flowers he uses as the basis of gray, the background of which is allocated only one bright color ( "Three or four well-chosen colors are sufficient to ensure that the picture was expressive. Other colors only weaken the effect"). It was here that he rahrabotal your style.

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Upon his return to Paris Sérusier a lot of work for the theater, even at the expense of pure painting ( "nabizma lesson is particularly important when working in theater, as well as on the stage and grafizm and color must be in harmony with the drama, to create poetic climate of unreality." Unfortunately from this activity has left almost no trace.

In parallel, he participates in group exhibitions. In 1895, while in deep depression after his girlfriend left him, he got an offer from his friend Jean Verklada, became a monk in Beuron (Germany), to visit his monastery, which applied the aesthetic principles of his father Desiderius Lenz, who taught that the laws of beauty that is divine, hidden in nature and can be understood only by the artist. His stay in the monastery filled him with new enthusiasm (which can be compared with szakomstvom with Gauguin), and he unsuccessfully tried to persuade his colleagues in Paris in the importance of a "holy action".

He returned regularno Beuron, and in between lived in Brittany. His paintings are now based solely on measurements and every rrasschetah. He studies the art of ancient Egypt, itelyanskih primitives and medieval tapestries.
Since 1908 he teaches at the Academy of Ronson.
In 1921 came his textbook "ABS painting" in which he developed his theory of curved lines and simple forms, as well as color theory and method of searching for muted tones, based on the separation of warm and cool tones and you have two palettes. "In its quest to combine art, nature, and in Religion, he remained until the last day of Nabi.


In conclusion, a few quotations:
"The word" almost "should not be used in Art. Compromise should be banned! "
"Beautiful color - the enemy of true colors ..."
"To move from error to truth, to go through a period of oblivion ..."

"My role as a teacher is not intended to impose on you my ideas, but to bring in your order.