''L'Art Moderne'' was a weekly review of the arts and literature published in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
from March 1881 until the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
in August 1914.
It was established by a number of lawyers based in Brussels who felt the need for a regular overview of the cultural life of the capital.
The leading figures in the founding group were
Edmond Picard and
Octave Maus
Octave Maus (12 June 1856 – 26 November 1919) was a Belgian art critic, writer and lawyer.
Maus worked with fellow writer/lawyer Edmond Picard, and they together with Victor Arnould and Eugène Robert founded the weekly ''L'Art moderne'' in ...
.
[Jane Block, "Les XX and La Libre Esthétique", in ''Impressionism to Symbolism: The Belgian Avant-Garde, 1880-1900'', edited by MaryAnne Stevens with Robert Hoozee (Royal Academy of Arts, London, in association with Ludion Press, Ghent, 1994), p. 41.] The poet and art critic
Émile Verhaeren
Émile Adolphe Gustave Verhaeren (; 21 May 1855 – 27 November 1916) was a Belgian poet and art critic who wrote in the French language. He was one of the founders of the school of Symbolism and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Lit ...
(also a lawyer) soon became a frequent contributor.
Each issue was eight pages long, and reviews were unsigned.
[ Initially the review's editorial line opposed "]Art for art's sake
Art for art's sake—the usual English rendering of ''l'art pour l'art'' (), a French slogan from the latter part of the 19th century—is a phrase that expresses the philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only 'true' art, is divorce ...
" (promoted by the rival ''La Jeune Belgique
''La Jeune Belgique'' (meaning ''The Young Belgium'' in English) was a Belgian literary society and movement that published a French-language literary review ''La Jeune Belgique'' between 1880 and 1897. Both the society and magazine were founded b ...
'') under the alternative slogan ''l'art social'' ("social art"), insisting that art should serve progressive social and political purposes. This stance was later softened. Despite the differences in editorial emphasis, several contributors wrote for both reviews.
''L'Art Moderne'' was closely involved in promoting two ''fin de siècle
() is a French term meaning "end of century,” a phrase which typically encompasses both the meaning of the similar English idiom "turn of the century" and also makes reference to the closing of one era and onset of another. Without context, ...
'' Belgian art movements, Les XX
''Les XX'' ( French; "''Les Vingt''"; ; ) was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years, they held an annual exhibition of their ar ...
and La Libre Esthétique
''La Libre Esthétique'' (French; "The Free Aesthetics") was an artistic society founded in 1893 in Brussels, Belgium to continue the efforts of the artists' group ''Les XX'' dissolved the same year. To reduce conflicts between artists invited or ...
.[
]
References
External links
Digitised issues
(Digithèque de l'Université libre de Bruxelles)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Art moderne
1881 establishments in Belgium
1914 disestablishments in Belgium
Defunct literary magazines published in Europe
Defunct magazines published in Belgium
French-language magazines
Magazines established in 1881
Magazines disestablished in 1914
Magazines published in Brussels
Visual arts magazines
Weekly magazines published in Belgium