Vuillard and the Artwork of Japan
Fondation de l’Hermitage
23.06 – 29.10.2023
In the summertime of 2023, the Fondation de l’Hermitage is revisiting the work of Nabi grasp Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940), seen via the lens of Japonism that took Paris by storm on the flip of the twentieth century. Centred on the fragile panorama held at l’Hermitage, La Maison de Roussel à La Montagne (1900), the exhibition exhibits the essential affect of Japanese artwork on Vuillard’s work. The artist was a terrific collector of ukiyo-e prints, wherein he discovered codecs of a sort hitherto unknown within the Europe, radical compositions and framing, and weird motifs, all of which enormously enriched his aesthetic language. Round 100 work and engravings of scenes of on a regular basis life and nature, created by Vuillard between the Nineties and the First World Warfare, are proven right here in dialogue with some fifty Japanese masterpieces.
JAPONISM IN VOGUE
It was virtually definitely the nice exhibition of Japanese artwork of 1890 on the École des Beaux-Arts that fostered Vuillard’s curiosity in Japanese aesthetics, which had hitherto remained largely unknown on the academy circuits. Whereas all of the Nabi painters appreciated Japanese artwork – and first amongst them Pierre Bonnard, who was referred to as the “Nabi japonard” – it was Vuillard who collected the best variety of prints, buying a complete of 180 for low costs at Le Bon Marché and Printemps. These works depicting landscapes, geishas or kabuki actors are by Japanese woodcut masters similar to Hiroshige, Hokusai, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Eisan and Utamaro. A few of the works will be seen pinned to the wall in pictures of Vuillard’s studio living-room. His assortment additionally contained a number of illustrated books, together with quantity 6 of Hokusai’s Manga.
REVITALISING THE CODES OF WESTERN PAINTING
Within the years 1890-1914 Vuillard’s work, drawings and lithographs have been deeply imbued with references to Japanese artwork. Just like the ukiyo-e masters, he celebrated on a regular basis life and nature. Avoiding any facile exoticism, he enriched his artwork by freely adopting Japanese codes, which provided him solely new codecs, viewpoints and asymmetrical compositions. Typically he deserted Albertian perspective, creating a way of house via the daring juxtaposition of a detailed foreground with a distant background. He additionally turned away from portraying reduction and three-dimensional shapes, as a substitute exploring the potential of plain colors, arabesques and textural results to create kinds.
THEMED PRESENTATION
The exhibition is organised across the completely different genres wherein Vuillard labored, seen via the lens of Japanese aesthetics. The artist’s extremely private method is explored via Scenes of atypical life, Screens and kakemonos, Prints and graphic arts and The Surprise of Nature. Additionally on show is a gaggle of work by Vuillard’s Nabi associates who have been enormously influenced by Japanese artwork, together with Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Paul Élie Ranson and Félix Vallotton.
CATALOGUE
The exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated ebook containing a number of essays on the artist and his work by Marina Ferretti, Isabelle Cahn, Matthias Chivot and Corinne Currat. The editor is Marina Ferretti and {the catalogue} is copublished with Snoeck in Ghent.
EXHIBITION CURATORS
Sylvie Wuhrmann Director, Fondation de l’Hermitage Corinne Currat Assistant Curator, Fondation de l’Hermitage LENDERS Many museums have lent works for this exhibition, together with Musée d’Orsay et Musée Nationwide Picasso-Paris, Musée des Beaux-Arts (Rheims), Musée de l’Annonciade (Saint-Tropez), Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, The Nationwide Gallery of Sofia, Statens Museum for Kunst (Copenhagen), Musée d’artwork et d’histoire de Genève, Musée Jenisch Vevey, Kunst Museum Winthertur, Tate (London), The Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge).
Pictures
Édouard Vuillard
La Maison de Roussel à La Montagne, vers 1900
Huile sur carton, 29,5 x 33 cm
Fondation de l’Hermitage, Lausanne, legs de Lucie Schmidheiny, 1998
© picture Eric Frigière, Saint-Légier
Édouard Vuillard
Deux femmes sous la lampe, 1892
Huile sur toile marouflée sur bois, 33 x 41,5 cm
Centre Pompidou, Paris. Musée nationwide d’artwork moderne-Centre de création industrielle
En dépôt au musée de l’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez
Legs de Georges Grammont, 1959
© picture Assortment Musée de l’Annonciade, Saint-Tropez
Édouard Vuillard
Au lit, 1891
Huile sur toile, 74 x 92 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, legs verbal d’Édouard Vuillard, exécuté grâce à M. et Mme Ok. X. Roussel, beau-frère et sœur de l’artiste, 1941
© picture RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Sylvie Chan-Liat
Édouard Vuillard
Le Crépuscule à Pouliguen, 1908
Peinture à la colle sur papier, marouflé sur toile, 78 x 148 cm
Assortment particulière
© picture DR
Édouard Vuillard
Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, vue du Relais vers l’entrée du parc, 1897-1899
Huile sur carton, 40,8 x 29,5 cm
Assortment particulière, Suisse
© picture Peter Schälchli, Zurich
Édouard Vuillard
Femme de profil au chapeau vert, vers 1891
Huile sur carton, 21 x 17 cm
Musée d’Orsay, Paris, dation, 1990
© picture RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Jean-Marc Anglès
Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)
[Femme se coiffant, un miroir dans la main], vers 1800-1865
Gravure sur bois en couleurs sur papier japon, 36 x 24,4 cm
Musée Jenisch Vevey – Cupboard cantonal des estampes, Assortment de la Ville de Vevey
© picture Musée Jenisch Vevey / Julien Gremaud
Édouard Vuillard
Les Gros Nuages, 1909
Pastel sur papier, 24 x 31 cm
Assortment particulière, Paris
© picture de Bayser
Édouard Vuillard
L’Avenue, planche 2 de la série Paysages et intérieurs, 1899
Lithographie, 33 x 45 cm
Assortment particulière
© picture Peter Schälchli, Zurich
Édouard Vuillard
Le Salon des Natanson, rue Saint-Florentin, 1897-1898
Huile sur papier, contrecollé sur panneau parqueté, 45,5 x 51,5 cm
Assortment Emil Bührle, en dépôt au Kunsthaus Zürich
© picture Assortment Emil Bührle
Édouard Vuillard
Marine (Saint-Jacut), 1909
Peinture à la colle sur papier marouflé sur toile, 70,8 x 87 cm
Assortment particulière
© picture Peter Schälchli, Zürich
Édouard Vuillard
Les Collines bleues, 1900
Huile sur carton, 42,5 x 68 cm
Kunsthaus Zürich, legs du Dr Hans Schuler, 1920
© picture Kunsthaus Zürich
Édouard Vuillard
Grand-mère et enfant au lit bleu, 1899
Huile sur carton, 46,5 x 53 cm
Kunst Museum Winterthur
© picture SIK-ISEA, Zürich / Lutz Hartmann
Édouard Vuillard
Pierrot, 1890-1891
Pinceau, encre et aquarelle sur crayon léger sur papier rigide jauni, découpé en forme d’éventail uchiwa, 20,4 x 17,3 cm
SMK, Nationwide Gallery of Denmark
© picture SMK / Jakob Skou-Hansen
