At the Theatre

At the Theatre

<p>This spare but finished drawing evocatively depicts a maid with a bib apron (suggested by the bleeding of the ink) pulling back a curtain. It has been identified as a study for Vuillard' s 1892 submission to the <em>Livre d' Art,</em> the illustrated periodical published by Paul Fort, founder of Theatre d' Art, the first forum for symbolist theater. Vuillard creates his image with a brilliant economy of means. A single line evokes the parted curtain-both a literal element of stagecraft and an emblem for theater itself. In addition, the line of the curtain cuts the page and calls attention to the flat surface of the drawing.</p>

Catalogue

Year
1892
Dimensions
24.8 × 32.6 cm (9 13/16 × 12 7/8 in.)

Artist

Édouard Jean Vuillard
Édouard Jean Vuillard

Printmaking

Édouard Jean Vuillard was a French printmaker and painter whose intimate domestic interiors and portraits defined the Nabis movement at the turn of the twentieth century. Working primarily in lithography, he created densely patterned compositions where flattened perspective and decorative surface dissolve the boundary between figure and ornament. His prints and paintings capture the quiet psychology of bourgeois life, rendering parlors, bedrooms, and gardens as spaces of psychological rather than spatial depth. The muted palette of ochres, greens, and grays, applied in delicate layers, gives his work a distinctive luminosity despite its apparent restraint.

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More

More by Édouard Jean Vuillard

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Vuillard's Room at the Château des Clayes

Vuillard's Room at the Château des Clayes

1928 · Distemper on paper, mounted on canvas

WW-1928-122113
Mme Hessel, Chateau de Clayes

Mme Hessel, Chateau de Clayes

1915 · Graphite on cream wove paper

WW-1915-131449
The Dressing Room, Madame Hessel Reading at Amfreville

The Dressing Room, Madame Hessel Reading at Amfreville

1906 · Oil and tempera on cardboard

WW-1906-122075
Guelder Roses and the Venus of Milo

Guelder Roses and the Venus of Milo

1905 · Oil on cardboard

WW-1905-122085
Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier Fontaine) in a Pink Shawl

Madame Arthur Fontaine (Marie Escudier Fontaine) in a Pink Shawl

1904 · Gouache and oil on cardboard mounted on cardboard

WW-1904-136150
Woman in Interior

Woman in Interior

1901 · Gouache with pastel, watercolor, and charcoal on tan wove paper, laid down on canvas, wrapped around a stretcher

WW-1901-135628

Record

Verified by WattsOS
Year
1892
Dimensions
24.8 × 32.6 cm (9 13/16 × 12 7/8 in.)
Watts ID
WW-1892-128205

Source

Source
aic
Status
verified

Artist

Édouard Jean Vuillard

Édouard Jean Vuillard

Printmaking

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