The Nabis artists and their contemporaries. Printed graphics from the collection of the State Hermitage

On 1 November 2006, a temporary exhibition opened in the Pierre Bonnard and Maurice Denis Rooms of the General Staff building, partially replacing and substantially rounding out the existing permanent display of paintings. In three rooms on the second floor of the General Staff building we find engravings by all the leading masters of the Nabis Group - Denis, Bonnard, Vuillard, Vallotton, Roussel, as well as Serusier, Ibele and Ranson - who are not represented in the Hermitage by oil paintings. There are also on display works by contemporaries which demonstrate the basic artistic orientation of the Nabis and the creative milieu in which this art developed.

The group was formed in 1888 and positioned itself as the avant-garde of French art. The word "nabi" was taken from the ancient Hebrew word nebia - meaning 'the prophet."

The engravings of the Nabis and their contemporaries are divided into two thematic groups which will be exhibited one after the other in the periods November-early December, 2006 and December, 2006 - February, 2007. The first group presents works demonstrating the place of the Nabis among the diverse artistic currents of the age.

The exhibition opens with posters for exhibitions or literary works, and the covers of art publications - all of which provide evidence of the artistic life in Paris during the 1890s. A special section of the exhibition is devoted to Symbolism. The generalizing nature and suggestiveness of graphic language, the secretive double entendre of images, as well as the interest in mysticism and music are all different manifestations of Symbolism, which brought together such varied masters as Denis, Serusier and Vallotton and the recognized leaders of the movement, Gauguin, Redon, Carrière, Fantin-Latour

The stylistic search and experiments of the Nabis are represented in two basic lines. The first and most influential in the 1890s was a striving for an elevated decorativeness. This unites Ranson, Roussel, Ibele and Vallotton. Starting with examples of Japanese woodcuts, the Nabis developed their own variations of decorative style which are close to Art Nouveau. In parallel there was development of artistic experiments by Toulouse-Lautrec, de Ferras, Muchy and Oriole. The second line was Neo-Classicism, associated chiefly with the lessons of Puvy de Chavanne and developing somewhat later - as represented by the lithographs of Maillol.

More