Program Design for the Théâtre Libre [recto]

1886–1927 · Virkested

Paris

1890

Joins the Nabis

He begins attending the meetings of the “prophets” in late 1889 and in 1890, through Maurice Denis, becomes a member of the group, which met in Paul Ranson’s studio and in the cafés of the Passage Brady; because of his military service he is given the coded nickname “Nabi Zouave”. Other accounts date his membership from 1891.

early 1890s

The Natanson brothers and La Revue Blanche

Through his theatre work he meets Alexandre and Thadée Natanson, founders of the cultural review La Revue Blanche, where his graphics appear alongside work by Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec and Vallotton; the brothers become his important patrons. Other accounts say they had known each other since the Lycée Condorcet.

early 1890s

A shared studio and the first stage sets

He shares a studio at 28 Rue Pigalle with Bonnard, the director Lugné-Poe and a theatre critic, and designs sets for plays by Maeterlinck and other Symbolist writers. In the early 1890s he works chiefly for Lugné-Poe’s Théâtre de l’Œuvre, designing backdrops and programmes.

1891

First exhibition with the Nabis at Saint-Germain-en-Laye

At the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye he shows two paintings, among them “The Woman in a Striped Dress”; the reviews are largely good, although the critic of Le Chat Noir (19 September 1891) finds the works still indecisive.

1892

First decorative commission: panels for the Desmarais house

On a commission for the Natanson brothers he paints six panels above the doors of the Desmarais family’s salon, his first “apartment frescoes”. It is the first of eight decorative cycles made between 1892 and 1899, some thirty panels in all.