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Maurice Denis, On the Pale Silver Sofa (Sur le canapé d'argent pâle), 1899

Maurice Denis

Maurice Denis (1870-1943) belonged to the group of young artists known as Les Nabis, who were united in their belief that their own experiences and feelings were more interesting than visible reality. They wanted to evoke their personal experiences into a new, decorative style of colour, line and patterning.

Denis wrote ‘that a painting, before being a battle horse, a nude woman, or some anecdote, is essentially a flat surface covered with colours assembled in a certain order.’

It was an attitude that lent itself well to the bright and decorative visual language of colour lithography, and so Denis and his friends experimented freely with the relatively recent technique.

Nabi of the beautiful icons

Denis sought to express his Catholic faith in his colour lithography, earning him the soubriquet of ‘le nabi aux belles icônes’. Like other young artists associated with Neo-Catholicism, he wanted to use modern art to spread the word of God. He drew inspiration for the use of colour and lighting in his decorative and religious lithographs from the work of medieval masters like Giotto and Fra Angelico.

Maurice Denis, The Visitation (La visitation), 1895

Maurice Denis, The Visitation (La visitation), 1895

Love

The highlight of Denis’ graphic work is his print series Amour. Drawing on quotations from his own diary, he presented the experience of courting his wife Martha in 12 colour lithographs in soft pastel colours that alternate between earthly and more mystical forms of love. The dream-like series was printed by master lithographer Auguste Clot and published by the celebrated dealer Ambroise Vollard.

Maurice Denis, Series Amour, 1899

Maurice Denis, Series Amour, 1899

Maurice Denis, Attitudes are Easy and Chaste (Les attitudes sont faciles et chastes), 1899

Maurice Denis, Attitudes are Easy and Chaste (Les attitudes sont faciles et chastes), 1899

Maurice Denis, It Was a Religious Mystery (Ce fut un religieux mystère), 1899

Maurice Denis, It Was a Religious Mystery (Ce fut un religieux mystère), 1899

Further reading
  • Pierre Cailler, Maurice Denis. Catalogue Raisonné de l’Oeuvre Gravé et Lithographié, Geneva 1968
  • Claire Denis, Thérèse Barruel, Anne Gruson, Marianne Barbey, Maurice Denis 1870-1943, Liverpool/Amsterdam/Ghent 1994
  • Jean-Paul Bouillon [et al.], Maurice Denis 1870-1943, Ghent 1994

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