The Bande noire (Black Band) was a group of French painters of the 1890s who used a darker and richer palette than most of their

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

contemporaries, aiming for a stylistic fusion of Impressionism with the raw or melancholy realism associated with painters such as

Gustave Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

. They were also sometimes known as the Nubians to differentiate them from the group known as

Les Nabis Les Nabis (French: les nabis, ) were a group of young French artists active in Paris from 1888 until 1900, who played a large part in the transition from impressionism and academic art to abstract art, symbolism and the other early movements of m ...

. The Bande noire got their name after the painter

Charles Cottet Charles Cottet (12 July 1863 – 20 September 1925) was a French painter, born at Le Puy-en-Velay and died in Paris. A famed post-impressionist, Cottet is known for his dark, evocative painting of rural Brittany and seascapes. He led a scho ...

exhibited a painting called ''The Burial'' at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

of 1894. Besides Cottet, the artists most associated with this rather loosely defined group included

Lucien Simon Lucien Joseph Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. Early life and education Simon was born in Paris. After graduating from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he studied painting at the studio of Jules Didier, then from ...

Émile-René Ménard Émile-René Ménard (15 April 1862, in Paris – 13 January 1930, in Paris) was a French painter. From early childhood he was immersed in an artistic environment: Corot, Millet and the Barbizon painters frequented his family home, familiariz ...

René-Xavier Prinet René François Xavier Prinet (31 December 1861, Vitry-le-François – 26 January 1946, Bourbonne-les-Bains) was a French painter and illustrator who drew his subjects from middle-class society. Biography He was born to Henri Prinet, an Imper ...

, and

André Dauchez André Eugène Dauchez (17 May 1870 – 15 May 1948), born in Paris, was a French painter, watercolourist, pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other fo ...

. Other artists with affinities to the Bande noire include

Walter Gay Walter Gay (January 22, 1856July 13, 1937) was an American painter noted both for his genre paintings of French peasants, paintings of opulent interior scenes and was a notable art collector. Early life Walter Gay was born on January 22, 1856 i ...

Gaston La Touche Gaston La Touche, or de La Touche (24 October 1854 – 12 July 1913), was a French painter, illustrator, engraver and sculptor. Biography His family originally came from Normandy. He was born in Saint-Cloud. His passion for art began at a very ...

, and

Constantin Meunier Constantin Meunier (12 April 1831 – 4 April 1905) was a Belgian painter and sculptor. He made an important contribution to the development of modern art by elevating the image of the industrial worker, docker and miner to an icon of mode ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bande Noire French artist groups and collectives 19th-century art groups French art movements