In 1888, Sérusier—a major theorist as well as an avant-garde painter—organized the artists’ collective known as the Nabis (from the Hebrew word meaning prophet). With his fellow Nabis Denis, Bonnard, and Vuillard, Sérusier pushed painting toward flatness and abstraction, as this still life demonstrates. Acid color applied in curt, parallel strokes creates a patchwork image of three apples, a vase of violets, and a book on a table; a sculpted torso hovers in the background, partly concealed by a tumble of drapery. The painting’s surface encourages us to look not through it, to the objects depicted, but rather at it and its flickering play of colors.
Details
- Artist Name: Paul Sérusier (French, 1864-1927)
- Title: Still Life with Apples and Violets
- Date: 1890-1891
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 15 x 18-1/8 in. (38.1 x 46 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation, Gift of Mr. Norton Simon
- Accession Number: F.1983.14.P
Object Information
Mme P. (Marguerite) Sérusier (d. 1950), presumably gift to;
Mademoiselle Henriette Boutaric (d. 1984), Paris, still in 1964.
George G. Frelinghuysen, Los Angeles (sale, Los Angeles, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 4 February 1975, lot 303, ill., as Nature Morte aux voilettes, to);
[Paul Kantor Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, sold 21 March 1975 to];
Norton Simon, Los Angeles; acc. N.75.2.P.; gift 18 October 1983 to;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Gauguin et ses amis
- Winkel & Magnussen, 1956 to
Nabis
- Mannhiem, Stadtische Kunsthalle, 1963 to 1964
Bonnard, Vuillard et les Nabis (1888-1903)
- Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, 1955-06-02 to 1955-10-02
The Nabis
- Norton Simon Museum, 1992-09-24 to 1993-07-18
- Guicheteau, Marcel, Paul Serusier, 1976, no. 43 p. 205
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 158
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1, 2006,
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1128 p. 374
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