Paul Sérusier (; 9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

and an inspiration for the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

Nabis Nabis may refer to: * Nabis of Sparta, reigned 207–192 BCE * Nabis (art), a Parisian post-Impressionist artistic group * ''Nabis'' (bug), a genus of insects * NABIS, National Ballistics Intelligence Service, a British government agency See a ...

movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism.

Education

Sérusier was born in Paris. He studied at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

and was a monitor there in the mid-1880s. In the summer of 1888 he travelled to

Pont-Aven Pont-Aven (; in Breton) is a commune in the Finistère department in the Brittany region in Northwestern France. Demographics Inhabitants of Pont-Aven are called in French. Pont-Aven absorbed the former commune of Nizon in 1954, which had ...

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 painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

. While at the Pont-Aven artist's colony he painted a picture that became known as '' The Talisman'', under the close supervision of Gauguin. The picture was an extreme exercise in Cloisonnism 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, Vuillard was a member of the avant garde artistic group Les Nabis, creating paintings that assembled areas ...

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, ...

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 and Colleagues in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 1895.''The Evergreen: A Northern Seasonal: The Book of Spring'', Patrick Geddes and Colleagues (1895) He later taught at the

Académie Ranson The Académie Ranson was a private art school founded in 1908 in Paris by the French painter Paul Ranson (1862–1909). History The Académie Ranson was founded in 1908 by Paul Ranson (1862–1909), who himself studied at the Académie Jul ...

and published his book ''ABC de la peinture'' in 1921. He died at

Morlaix Morlaix (; , ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. History The Battle of Morlaix, part of the Hundred Years' War, was fought near the town on 30 Septembe ...

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

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

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'', oil on canvas,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

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,

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 (, 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 (Art of ancient Egypt, Egyptian, Art in ancient Greece, Greek, ...

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 (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...

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,

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 French Post-impressionist painters Académie Julian alumni 1864 births 1927 deaths Lycée Condorcet alumni Nabis (art) Pont-Aven painters 19th-century French male artists