Women among the Nabis. From thread to needle

Like a shadow play, silhouettes appear, mysterious and familiar at the same time. Marthe Meurier, Maria (or Marthe) Boursin, France Rousseau, Laure Bonnamour, Marie Michaud... Their maiden name doesn’t lift them out of anonymity, but their husband’s or son’s name gives them an identity, Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Ranson Georges Lacombe, Edouard Vuillard...

At the Musée de Pont-Aven, Charlotte Foucher evokes the women who lived in the intimacy of the Nabis masters; companions, lovers, mothers, sisters, they constitute a solid and discreet entourage, as necessary as a frame for a painting. A researcher at the CNRS and the author of a thesis on women artists in France in Symbolist circles [1] the curator of this exhibition does not overturn the table or cry injustice: no, those who worked alongside the Nabis are not unknown artists, victims of some kind of injustice in art history. There were no Nabi women as such, but collaborators, models and supporters of all kinds. Analysing the presence of women allows us to change our perspective on the art of the masters; by going behind the scenes, we gain a better understanding of the context in which they were created.
The works on display are varied, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints, as well as photographs, embroidery and tapestries, set and costume designs, puppets and more. The visitor is taken from the impassivity of the Muses to the facetiousness of Abbé Prout (ill. 1 and 2). An exhibition at the Palais du Luxembourg had already underlined the importance of the decorative arts in Nabi production (see article, see also book by Katherine M. Kuenzli).