Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

Nabis Nabis ( grc-gre, Νάβις) was the last king of independent Sparta. He was probably a member of the Heracleidae, and he ruled from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the eponymous " War against Nab ...

movement,

Synthetism Synthetism is a term used by post-Impressionist artists like Paul Gauguin, Émile Bernard and Louis Anquetin to distinguish their work from Impressionism. Earlier, ''Synthetism'' has been connected to the term Cloisonnism, and later to Symbolism. ...

and

Cloisonnism Cloisonnism is a style of post-Impressionist painting with bold and flat forms separated by dark contours. The term was coined by critic Édouard Dujardin on the occasion of the Salon des Indépendants, in March 1888. Artists Émile Bernard, Lou ...

Education

Sérusier was born in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. He studied at the Académie Julian and was a monitor there in the mid-1880s. In the summer of 1888 he travelled to

Pont-Aven Pont-Aven (, Breton: 'River Bridge') is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France. In 2019, it had a population of 2,821. Demographics Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called ''Pontavenistes'' in French ...

and joined the small group of artists centered there around

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

. While at the Pont-Aven

artist's colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of Artist, artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior exi ...

he painted a picture that became known as '' The Talisman'', under the close supervision of Gauguin. The picture was an extreme exercise in

that approximated to pure abstraction. He was a Post-Impressionist painter, a part of the group of painters called Les Nabis. Sérusier, along with

, named the group. Pierre Bonnard,

Édouard Vuillard Jean-Édouard Vuillard (; 11 November 186821 June 1940) was a French painter, decorative artist and printmaker. From 1891 through 1900, he was a prominent member of the Nabis, making paintings which assembled areas of pure color, and interior sc ...

and

Maurice Denis Maurice Denis (; 25 November 1870 – 13 November 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist, and writer. An important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art, he is associated with ''Les Nabis'', symbolism, a ...

became the best known of the group, but at the time they were somewhat peripheral to the core group. In 1892 Sérusier met and befriended Charles Hodge Mackie while the Scottish artist and his wife were honeymooning in France. This friendship led to him contributing the illustration ''Pastorale Bretonne'' to ''The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal: The Book of Spring'' published by

Patrick Geddes Sir Patrick Geddes (2 October 1854 – 17 April 1932) was a British biologist, sociologist, Comtean positivist, geographer, philanthropist and pioneering town planner. He is known for his innovative thinking in the fields of urban planning ...

and Colleagues in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in 1895.''The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal: The Book of Spring'', Patrick Geddes and Colleagues (1895) He later taught at the Académie Ranson and published his book ''ABC de la peinture'' in 1921. He died at

Morlaix Morlaix (; br, Montroulez) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Leisure and tourism The old quarter of the town has winding streets of cobbled stones and overha ...

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

Odilon Redon, Paul Serusier, 1903, NGA 45843

Writings

* ''ABC de la peinture'', La Douce France & Henri Floury, Paris 1921 : - Second edition, accompanied by a study on Sérusier's life and work, by

, Librairie Floury, Paris 1942 : - Third edition, accompanied by an unpublished correspondence, collected by Madame P. Sérusier and annotated by Mademoiselle H. Boutaric, Librairie Floury, Paris 1950

Gallery of Paintings

File:Paul Sérusier 001.jpg, Sérusier, 1888, ''Landscape and trees in Pont-Aven'', or '' The Talisman'', oil-painting File:La barrière fleurie, Le Pouldu 1889 Paul Serusier.jpg, Sérusier, 1889, ''The flowered barrier, Le Pouldu in Pont-Aven'', oil on cardboard File:Porträt Paul Ranson.jpg, Sérusier, 1890, ''Portrait of

Paul Ranson Paul-Élie Ranson (29 March 1861 – 20 February 1909) was a French painter and writer associated with Les Nabis. Biography He was born in Limoges. His mother died in childbirth, so he was raised and educated by his grandparents and his ...

'', oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay File:Paul Sérusier 002.jpg, Sérusier, 1890, ''Melancholy'', oil on canvas File:Le pardon de Notre-Dame-des-Portes à Châteauneuf-du-Faou vers 1894 Paul Sérusier.JPG, Sérusier, c. 1894, ''Le pardon de Notre-Dame-des-Portes à Châteauneuf-du-Faou', oil painting, Musée d'Orsay File:Sérusier Les mangeurs de serpents.jpg, Sérusier, 1894, ''The snake eaters (Les mangeurs de serpents)'', tempera on canvas,

National Museum, Warsaw The National Museum in Warsaw ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), popularly abbreviated as MNW, is a national museum in Warsaw, one of the largest museums in Poland and the largest in the capital. It comprises a rich collection of ancient art ( Eg ...

File:Serusier - boys on a river bank.jpg, Sérusier, 1906, ''Boys on a Riverbank'', oil on canvas,

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

File:Paul Sérusier Autoportrait à la barbe rutilante.jpg, Sérusier, 1907–08, ''Self-portrait with a shiny beard (Autoportrait à la barbe rutilante)'', oil on canvas File:Paysage 1912 Paul Serusier.jpg, Sérusier, 1912, ''Landscape'', oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay File:Paul Sérusier La veuve de guerre.jpg, Sérusier, 1919, ''The War Widow (La veuve de Guerre)'', oil on canvas

References and sources

;References ;Sources * ''Gauguin and the Nabis: Prophets of Modernism'' by Arthur Ellridge. Terrail, 1995. * ''The Nabis: Bonnard, Vuillard and Their Circle'' by Claire Freches-Thory (Author), Antoine Terrasse (Author). Flammarion, 2003. * ''The Nabis and the Parisian Avant-Garde'' by Patricia Eckert Boyer (Editor), Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Elizabeth Prelinger. Rutgers University Press, 1988. * ''The Nabis and Their Period'' by Charles Chassé. Lund Humphries, 1969. * ''The Nabis, Their History and Their Art, 1888–1896'' by George Mauner. Garland Publishing, 1978. * Frèches-Thory, Claire, & Perucchi-Petry, Ursula, ed.: ''Die Nabis: Propheten der Moderne'', Kunsthaus Zürich & Grand Palais, Paris & Prestel, Munich 1993 (German), (French)

External links

Sérusier at Olga's Gallery

''Pierre Bonnard, the Graphic Art''
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Sérusier (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Serusier, Paul 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists Post-impressionist painters Académie Julian alumni 1864 births 1927 deaths Lycée Condorcet alumni Les Nabis Pont-Aven painters 19th-century French male artists