Maurice Denis

1870 - 1943 • French • Painter/Writer • Symbolist/Nabi

"... it is well to remember that a picture-before being a battle horse, a nude woman, or some anecdote-is essentially a plane surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." - Maurice Denis

The comment above, from Denis's essay "Definition of Neo-Traditionalism" (1890), is so frequently quoted that it has practically become the definition of MODERN art. Denis was 20 when he wrote the words that effectively turn attention from the historic subject of a work to its means and materials of production. It was the underpinning of SYNTHETISM and the development of ABSTRACTION and its multitude of variants, from CUBISM and ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM to MINIMALISM. Despite the significance of his proclamation, Denis's name, as well as his art, is relatively unknown, certainly in comparison to those about whom he wrote. Even in his most renowned painting, Homage to Cezanne (1900), he shows himself very much in the background while both of his idols, CEZANNE and REDON, share the limelight. Curiously, in Homage, a copy of a STILL LIFE by Cezanne serves as stand-in for Cezanne himself.