Grisaille – grey underpainting used to set the tone for a finished work – is like underwear, waiting for richly coloured clothes to go on top. Not in these paintings, though.
Ranson
Pre-Raphaelites painted Morgan le Fay from Arthurian legend, and the Nabi Paul Ranson seemed fascinated by witches.
Paintings of the hippogriff from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso, and some other winged horses from Puvis de Chavannes, Moreau, and ER Hughes.
Independent and aloof, cats train their humans and think that they’re still large and ferocious. Paintings from Carpaccio to Bonnard.
Short summary of their history, art, and their role in the evolution of painting in the twentieth century, with copious links to articles here.
High-chroma, constructive strokes, realism typical of the mid-20th century, and ‘corn style’ using coalescent tiles of high-chroma paint – you couldn’t get further from being Nabi.
After 1895, their styles and themes diverged, with Japonisme popular, and motifs ranging from the streets of Paris to the great waves of the Brittany coast.
Paintings from 1893-95 feature predominantly women, and explore the theme of womanhood. Bonnard, Vuillard, SĂ©rusier and others.
Flattened perspective, muted colours, and decorative patterning: some of the characteristics of the early Nabi years.
Paul Gauguin inspired and launched the Nabis during the late 1880s at Pont-Aven. They first exhibited in 1889, and published their manifesto in 1890, by which time he had moved onto another project.
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