The Nabi Shock

‘The Nabi Shock’ brings together over 20 paintings by leading figures of the Nabi movement, Émile Bernard, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Charles Filiger, Paul Ranson, József Rippl-Ronai, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Paul Sérusier and Édouard Vuillard, drawing on Waddington Custot’s expertise in this strand of European modernism. The paintings all date from that remarkably fertile period between 1888 and 1900, when the Nabis were actively working together in Paris. Here, Waddington Custot presents them alongside new paintings by Marcel.la Barceló, Ben Arpéa, Ian Davenport, Marcel Dzama, François Réau, Anne Rothenstein and Fabienne Verdier. This juxtaposition foregrounds the striking relevance of the Nabi aesthetic today, where colour, rhythm and interiority remain driving forces.

In just 12 years, the Nabis radically redefined the possibilities of painting. Adopting the burgeoning view, as articulated by Denis, that a ‘painting – before being a warhorse, a nude woman, or an anecdote of any kind – is essentially a flat surface covered with colours, assembled in a certain order’, they heralded an artistic renewal. Paintings such as Bonnard’s ‘Étude pour ‘Le Corsage à carreaux’’ (1892) and Vuillard’s ‘La Chambre verte, rue Truffaut’ (c.1900–01) are characterised by flat planes of unmodulated colour, distinctive outlines and textured surfaces that give Nabi painting its rhythm.

Underneath its painterly aesthetic, the work of the Nabi drew from the nascent theories of the subconscious developed by Sigmund Freud. Rather than depicting reality as it appeared before them, they wished to convey the experience of being enveloped in the world, engaging the viewer emotionally through the richness of the colours and the tactile quality of the brushstrokes. Guided by this interest in the inner life, Nabi subjects were often drawn from the immediate and personal: sisters, wives and mothers, or occasionally a celebrated stage actor. Most appear in quiet interiors or secluded gardens, exemplified by Roussel’s ‘Femmes au jardin’ (c.1893–95) and ‘Femme lisant’ (1895) by Vuillard.

The Nabis’ interests were wide-ranging: beyond canvases and works on paper, they designed theatre sets, posters and textiles. The exhibition presents Denis’ impressive stained-glass design ‘Le Cheval blanc’ (1894), Bonnard’s illustrations for musical scores and concert programmes, and Ranson’s Japanese-inspired ‘Le Grand Tigre’ (1893), a work that migrated from paper into carpets and painting.

Free

Monday 14:00-18:00

Tuesday to Friday 10:00-18:00

Saturday 11:00-1800