News Release

"Artists and the Avant-Garde Theater in Paris, 1887 - 1900" on View at the National Gallery of Art, 7 June - 7 September 1998

Washington, DC--The unique relationship between the visual and performing arts in turn-of-the-century Paris will be revealed by works Artists and the Avant-Garde Theater in Paris, 1887-1900. The exhibition includes sixty-seven illustrated theater programs by twenty-nine artists, including Parisian artists Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard, Èdouard Vuillard, Paul Signac, and Henri-Gabriel Ibels, as well as foreign artists living in Paris such as Edvard Munch, who were commissioned to decorate the covers of the theater programs with original prints. This exhibition celebrates the generous gift of some 155 playbills given to the Gallery by collectors Liane W. Atlas and her late husband Martin Atlas of Washington, DC, and by the Atlas Foundation.

The National Gallery of Art organized the exhibition. It will be on view in the East Building, 7 June - 7 September 1998, and at the National Academy Museum, New York, 1 October 1998 - 3 January 1999.

"The National Gallery is very fortunate to have these outstanding theater programs by such important and talented artists from the renowned Atlas Collection--one of the finest collections of French late nineteenth-century playbills," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "Formed over three decades, the collection offers an extraordinary range of artistic styles, from realism to symbolism, as well as varied aspects of Parisian life."

The catalyst for the dynamic relationship between the visual and performing arts was the creation of the innovative Théâtre Libre in 1887 followed by the Théâtre de L'Oeuvre in 1893. These avant-garde theaters presented naturalistic dramas that addressed current social issues and psychological states of the characters at a time when traditional theaters were producing predictable moralistic plays. The exhibition is comprised of four galleries, two devoted to programs from each of these two theaters.

Directors of the avant-garde theaters commissioned artists to illustrate programs, thus exposing audiences not only to daring new dramatic productions but also to new aesthetic concepts in the visual arts. Some programs illustrated a scene from the play, but many compositions had little or nothing to do with the play's content. Featuring original designs on theater programs was part of a larger movement among the artistic avant-garde to reinvigorate the decorative arts in France and educate and elevate the taste of the bourgeoisie. The playbills were meant to be taken home and hung on the walls, providing theatergoers with the opportunity to build a collection of fine prints by some of the most innovative artists of the day.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901) began a lasting affiliation with avant-garde theater with his commission for the Théâtre Libre's performance of Une Faillite (The Bankruptcy). Also in the exhibition is his playbill for Le Missionnaire (The Missionary), whose cover focuses on the theater audience instead of the content of the play. Lautrec liked to depict his friends, including the elegantly dressed woman who appears to be Jane Avril, a dancer at the Moulin Rouge and other cabarets frequented by the artist.

In November 1890, when the naturalist Théâtre Libre was reaching its zenith, Èdouard Vuillard (French, 1868-1940) illustrated programs for Monsieur Bute and L'Amant de sa femme (His Wife's Lover). Vuillard, who subsequently helped found the Théâtre de L'Oeuvre, generally featured images closely associated with the content of the plays.

Henri-Gabriel Ibels (French, 1867 - 1936) designed all of the programs for the 1892-1893 season of the Théâtre Libre. An illustrator for the popular press, Ibels was a member of the avant-garde artistic circle the Nabis (prophets or seers), along with Vuillard and Bonnard. His program illustrations for plays such as Les Fossiles (The Fossils) and La Belle au bois revant (Dreaming Beauty) displayed the striking distortion of color and simplification of form that characterized the Nabis' art.

Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863-1944) tended to illustrate key scenes of the plays in styles that evoked the moods of the protagonists. For Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, with music by Edvard Grieg, Munch's lithograph restricts the figures to the borders of the composition while emphasizing the mountainous landscape, thus suggesting the great psychological and physical distance between the characters.

Paul Signac (French, 1863-1935) was strongly influenced by the theories for dividing color and opposing complementary colors of nineteenth-century scientist Charles Henry, which resulted in a truer optical impression for the viewer. Signac's pointillist technique, which he used in his canvases, can also be seen in his lithograph for the play La Chance de Françoise (Francoise's Luck).

In addition to works by these prominent artists of the period, the exhibition includes programs by less familiar figures including Abel-Truchet, George Auriol, Tancrède Synave, Jan Toorop, Hermann-Paul, and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen, as well as a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, reviews, programs, and other memorabilia related to the theater.

Exhibition Organization

The exhibition has been organized by guest curator Patricia Eckert Boyer, a well-known independent scholar of nineteenth-century art, in collaboration with Ruth E. Fine, curator of modern prints and drawings, National Gallery of Art, and assisted by assistant curator Carlotta J. Owens.

Catalogue

Accompanying the exhibition is a catalogue written by Patricia Eckert Boyer, which discusses the history of the theaters and the relationships between the artists and the theaters.

General Information

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden are at all times free to the public. They are located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, and are open Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Gallery is closed on December 25 and January 1. For information call (202) 737-4215 or the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (TDD) at (202) 842-6176, or visit the Gallery's Web site at www.nga.gov.

Visitors will be asked to present all carried items for inspection upon entering the East and West Buildings. Checkrooms are free of charge and located at each entrance. Luggage and other oversized bags must be presented at the 4th Street entrances to the East or West Building to permit x-ray screening and must be deposited in the checkrooms at those entrances. For the safety of visitors and the works of art, nothing may be carried into the Gallery on a visitor's back. Any bag or other items that cannot be carried reasonably and safely in some other manner must be left in the checkrooms. Items larger than 17 x 26 inches cannot be accepted by the Gallery or its checkrooms.

For additional press information please call or send inquiries to:

Press Office
National Gallery of Art
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Landover, MD 20785
phone: (202) 842-6353 e-mail: pressinfo@nga.gov

Deborah Ziska
Chief of Press and Public Information
(202) 842-6353
ds-ziska@nga.gov

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