LES NABIS AND MAX VOLOSHIN: GAME MODELS

The article draws parallels between the variants of the play-drama and the forms of self-representation of the Les Nabis and the «Parisian» Maximilian Voloshin. All of them tested the concepts of play, performance, and artistic transformation of reality, which are organic in the aesthetics of symbolism, based on the tradition of French culture from T. Gauthier, J. Barbey d’Aurevilly to J. Péladan, F. Khnopff. In the stream of theatrical utopia of the late XIX – early XX centuries Les Nabis and Voloshin used the style of symbolism in everyday life and creativity. They were united by an understanding of art as an emanation of the absolute, a perception of phenomena as a «door to eternity», an invisible reality, a specific «sense of the mystery of things pregnant with an event» (Edouard Vuillard). The thesaurus of forms they possessed included signs of self-manifestation. But, although all of them have an increased attention to the synthesis of religions, mysticism, transchronological excursions, their models of life creation, as well as self-realization, have a number of differences in the ways of objectification of the spiritual. The sublime drama of the Nabis – «Language of Nabis», created by P. Sérusier, paraphernalia, clothes in the form of a felony, weekly ritualsin the Temple of Nabis on Boulevard Montparnasse, 25 – shows their commitment to the spiritualist model of thegame. And the semi-humorous atmosphere of the «Order of the Spins» in the house of Voloshin in Koktebel, jokes andhoaxes of the owner tend to laugh culture. Voloshin claimed: «Everything that is not a game is not art». He relied on the reception of art as a game and life as art – the newly created world en variante locale by the artist, the conjurer of things. Together with the fraternity, which arose spontaneously every summer and spontaneously formed its own laws and rituals, the poet realized an improvisational model of the game, close to children’s games. In contrast to the pathos of the Les Nabis, Voloshin’s game was a frontier against society and the then (1905-1924) Russian reality. If the theater of nabis in the manifestations of Art nouveau realized their goal to aestheticize space, then Voloshin’s game, which became his lifestyle, led to the creation of a new person and new relationships. It contributed not only to the creative development of its members, but also to saving lives during the Bolshevik terror and famine. Late Voloshin, with his analysis of the Сainite civilization and the historiosophical conception of Russia, consistent with modern assessments of geopolitical realities, can be positioned as a seer who predicted the course of events for centuries to come.

Complex Relationships: A Materials Study of Édouard Vuillard’s Interior, Mother and Sister of the Artist

Édouard Vuillard (1868–1949) is well known for his small atmospheric paintings, often portraying his own home and family as the subject matter. Interior, Mother and Sister of the Artist (1893) underwent at least one restoration treatment before being acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1934. The painting was treated again in 1954, but no analysis was carried out to understand the artist’s methods and materials at that time. To better understand the choices of Vuillard in Interior, Mother and Sister of the Artist, a comprehensive suite of imaging and spectroscopic analyses was undertaken, including: XRR, UVF and IRR Photography, XRF, Raman spectroscopy and SERS, and µ-FTIR. Statistical analysis on the XRF data using MCR-ALS further revealed some of the intricacies of Vuillard’s technique and color choices, where a large number of pigments were used in designing this intimate composition, including lead white, zinc white, bone black, ochre, umber, vermilion, Geranium lake, red lead, ultramarine, Prussian blue, chrome yellow, chrome orange, zinc yellow, strontium yellow, cadmium yellow, and a chromium oxide green.