Les XX

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Poster of the 1889 Les XX exhibition

Les XX was a group of twenty Belgian painters, designers and sculptors, formed in 1883 by the Brussels lawyer, publisher, and entrepreneur Octave Maus. For ten years 'Les Vingt' (pronounced French pronunciation: [lɛ vɛ̃]), as they called themselves, held an annual exhibition of their art; each year twenty international artists were also invited to participate in the exhibition. Artists invited over the years included: Camille Pissarro (1887, 1889, 1891), Claude Monet (1886, 1889), Georges Seurat (1887, 1889, 1891, 1892), Paul Gauguin (1889, 1891), Paul Cézanne (1890), and Vincent van Gogh (1890, 1891).

Les XX was in some ways a successor to the group L'Essor. The rejection of Ensor's 'The Oyster Eater' in 1883 by L'Essor Salon, following the earlier rejection by the Antwerp Salon, was one of the events that led to the formation of Les XX.

In 1893, the society of Les XX was transformed into "La Libre Esthétique".

History

It was founded on 28 October 1883 in Brussels and held annual shows there between 1884 and 1893, usually in January–March. No president or governing committee. The group was formed by 11 artists dissatisfied with the conservative policies of the organization L’Essor and the official academic Salon. L'Essor ('Soaring') was set up also in opposition to the Salon, but with a strong bureaucratic element of twenty Essorians comprising a governing committee. Octave Maus (lawyer, journalist, art critic) acted as the secretary of Les XX, which was free of stifling regulations. The extent of governing was done by a rotating committee of three which organized the exhibitions. In addition to the twenty members, twenty international invitees would also exhibit. During the exhibitions, there were also literary lectures and discussions, and performances of new classical music, organised from 1888 on by Vincent d'Indy,[1] with from 1889 until the end in 1893 very frequent performances by the Quatuor Ysaÿe.[2]

Octave Maus, Edmond Picard and Emile Verhaeren (Belgian poet) were the driving force of the associated review, L'Art Moderne, created in 1881. There was a close tie between art, music and literature among the Les XX artists.

Eleven founding members

Nine invited members

Twelve later invited members

The ten Annual Exhibitions of Les XX, 1884-1893

The 1884, 1885 and 1886 exhibitions were held at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. The later exhibitions were al held at the Museum of Modern Art of Brussels.[10]

1884

La Manneporte à Étretat, Claude Monet

The first of ten annual exhibitions was held on 2 February at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.[5]

Apart from the members of Les XX, there were exhibitions by Auguste Rodin, James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Max Liebermann.[11]

Catulle Mendès discussed Richard Wagner.[12]

1885

Exhibition of Xavier Mellery[5] and Jan Toorop.[9]

1886

Exhibits of Pierre-Auguste Renoir,[3] Odilon Redon[13] and Claude Monet, including Le pont d'Argenteuil and La Manneporte à Étretat.[12]

First performance of César Franck's Violon Sonata.[14]

1887

Walter Sickert,[15] Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot and Georges-Pierre Seurat exhibit, with Seurat and Signac present at the opening.[3] The major work shown is Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.[4]

In July, Les XX had an exhibition in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.[10]

1888

Exhibits of Albert Dubois-Pillet,[16] Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri-Edmond Cross, James Abbott McNeill Whistler,[1] Paul Signac and Odilon Redon.[3]

First performance of Vincent d'Indy's Poème des Montagnes.[14]

Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam was one of the invited writers.[12]

1889

Camille Pissarro,[4] Maximilien Luce,[4] Henri-Edmond Cross, Gustave Caillebotte,[1] Paul Cézanne,[16] Albert Dubois-Pillet,[16] Paul Gauguin and Georges Seurat exhibit.[3] Included is Gauguin's masterpiece Vision After the Sermon.[9]

At the first concert, the music was composed by César Franck, Pierre de Bréville, Ernest Chausson, Gabriel Fauré and Julien Tiersot. The music was played in part by the Quatuor Ysaÿe, as happened in the next few years.[2] The second concert was centered around Gabriel Fauré, with additional music by d'Indy, Charles Bordes and Henri Duparc.[2]

In July, Les XX had an exhibition in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.[10]

1890

Exhibits by invited artists including Odilon Redon,[13] Paul Cézanne,[1] Paul Signac, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,[6] Alfred Sisley, Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh.[12]

Three concerts were given, with the first centered around Belgian composers like Auguste Dupont, Léon Soubre, Joseph Jacob, Paul Gilson and Gustave Huberti.[2] The second and third concert focused on the French composers, with works by Fauré, Franck, d'Indy, and Castillon in the second concert. Vincent d'Indy performed his Symphonie Cévenole in the third concert.[17] Other composers whose work was performed were Fauré, Franck, Bréville, Bordes, Chausson, Albéric Magnard and Paul Vidal.[2]

Stéphane Mallarmé gave a lecture on Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam; Edmond Picard discusses Maurice Maeterlinck, Emile Verhaeren and Charles Van Lerberghe.[12]

1891

Exhibitions of Georges Seurat,[3] Camille Pissarro,[4] Alfred Sisley,[12] and Jules Chéret.[16]

First exhibitions of decorative art, including posters and book illustrations by Walter Crane, Alfred William Finch's first attempts at ceramics,[18] and three vases and a statue by Paul Gauguin. Retrospective for Vincent Van Gogh. Catalogue cover designed by George Lemmen.[19]

Memorial concert for César Franck and a second concert with new work by Vincent d'Indy,[1] and work by other followers of Franck, including Bordes, Duparc, Bréville, Chausson, Tiersot, Vidal,and Camille Benoît. Also played was work by Fauré and Emmanuel Chabrier.[2] A third concert focused on Russian composers, with works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Alexander Borodin, Nicolas de Stcherbatcheff, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Kopylov.[2]

1892

Pottery exhibited by Auguste Delaherche, and embroidery designs by Henry Van de Velde.[20] Invited artists include Maximilien Luce,[4] Léo Gausson[16] and Mary Cassatt.[12]

Retrospective of Georges Seurat with 18 paintings, including La Cirque and La Parade.[20]

Three concert evenings were organised. The first concert presented the first version of Paul Gilson's La Mer, Guillaume Lekeu's Andromède and music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov, and Franz Servais.[21] The second showcased music by Alexis de Castillon, César Franck, Charles Bordes, Louis de Serres and Emmanuel Chabrier.[2] The final concert included the first performance of Vincent d'Indy's Suite in D and Ernest Chausson's Concert.[14] The other music played was composed by Gabriel Fauré, Charles Bordes, Camille Chevillard and Albéric Magnard.[2]

1893

More design was exhibited, including a table by Alfred William Finch, embroidery by Henry Van de Velde, and objects by Alexandre Charpentier.[20]

Paul Verlaine discussed the contemporary poetry.[12]

The first concert was centered around work by César Franck and the first performance of Ernest Chausson's Poème de l'amour et la mer The second concert contained works by d'Indy, Castillon, Fauré, Chabrier and Bréville.[2] The third and final concert featured the première of Guillaume Lekeu's Violin Sonata,[14] with also performances of compositions by Charles Smulders, Paul Gilson, Dorsan van Reysschoot and Alexis de Castillon.[21]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Schwartz, Manuela (2006). Vincent d'Indy et son temps. Mardaga. p. 391. ISBN 978-2-87009-888-2. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Stockhem, Michel (1990). Eugène Ysaÿe et la musique de chambre (in French). Mardaga. p. 270. ISBN 978-2-87009-399-3. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Walther, Ingo F. (2002). Masterpieces of Western Art. Vol. 1. Taschen. p. 760. ISBN 978-3-8228-1825-1. Retrieved 22 December 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Clement, Russell T. (1999). Neo-impressionist painters. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-313-30382-1. Retrieved 22 December 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e State, Paul F. (2004). Historical dictionary of Brussels. Scarecrow Press. p. 409. ISBN 978-0-8108-5075-0. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  6. ^ a b Ploegaerts, Léon (1987). L'œuvre architecturale de Henry van de Velde (in French). Presses Université Laval. p. 462. ISBN 978-2-7637-7112-0. Retrieved 23 December 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b Gaze, Delia (1997). Dictionary of women artists, Volume 1. Taylor & Francis. p. 1512. ISBN 978-1-884964-21-3. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  8. ^ James, Kathleen (2006). Bauhaus culture: from Weimar to the Cold War. University of Minnesota Press. p. 246. ISBN 978-0-8166-4688-3. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  9. ^ a b c Frijhoff, Willem (2004). Dutch Culture in a European Perspective. Vol. 3. Marijke. Van Gorcum. p. 598. ISBN 978-90-232-3965-9. Retrieved 22 December 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b c Feltkamp, Ronald (2003). Théo van Rysselberghe, 1862-1926: monographie et catalogue raisonné. Lannoo. p. 535. ISBN 978-2-85917-389-0. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  11. ^ Giedion, Sigfried (2007). Raum, Zeit, Architektur: Die Entstehung einer neuen Tradition (in German). Springer. p. 536. ISBN 978-3-7643-5407-7. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Legrand, Francine-Claire (1999). James Ensor (in French). Renaissance Du Livre. p. 144. ISBN 978-2-8046-0295-6. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  13. ^ a b Clement, Russell T. (1996). Four French symbolists. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 583. ISBN 978-0-313-29752-6. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  14. ^ a b c d Langham Smith, Richard (2006). French music since Berlioz. Ashgate Publishing. p. 363. ISBN 978-0-7546-0282-8. Retrieved 22 December 2009. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Baron, Wendy (2006). Sickert: paintings and drawings. Yale University Press. p. 586. ISBN 978-0-300-11129-3. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  16. ^ a b c d e Turner, Jane (2000). The Grove dictionary of art. Oxford University Press US. p. 434. ISBN 978-0-312-22971-9. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  17. ^ Thomson, Andrew (1996). Vincent D'Indy and his world. Oxford University Press. p. 234. ISBN 978-0-19-816220-9. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  18. ^ Howard, Jeremy (1996). Art nouveau: international and national styles in Europe. Manchester University Press. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-7190-4161-7. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
  19. ^ Weisberg, Gabriël P. (1987). The Documented image: visions in art history. Syracuse University Press. p. 375. ISBN 978-0-8156-2410-3. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ a b c Tschudi-Madsen, Stephan (2002). The art nouveau style. Courier Dover. p. 488. ISBN 978-0-486-41794-3. Retrieved 23 December 2009.
  21. ^ a b Lekeu, Guillaume (1993). Verdebout, Luc (ed.). Correspondance. Mardaga. p. 496. ISBN 978-2-87009-557-7. Retrieved 23 December 2009.

Further reading

Primary sources

  • Octave Maus: L’Espagne des artistes (Brussels, 1887).
  • Octave Maus: Souvenirs d’un Wagnériste: Le Théâtre de Bayreuth (Brussels, 1888).
  • Octave Maus: Les Préludes: Impressions d’adolescence (Brussels, 1921).
  • Madeleine Octave Maus: Trente années de l'lutte pour l'art, Librairie L'Oiseau bleau, Bruxelles 1926; reprinted by Éditions Lebeer Hossmann, Bruxelles 1980

Secondary sources

  • Autour de 1900: L'Art Belge (1884-1918). London: The Arts Council, 1965.
  • BLOCK Jane, Les XX and Belgian Avant-Gardism 1868-1894, Studies in Fine Arts: The Avant garde, Ann Arbor: UMI Research press, 1984.
  • Les XX, Bruxelles. Catalogue des dix expositions annuelles, Brussels: Centre international pour l'étude de XIXe siècle, 1981.
  • STEVENS Mary Anne & HOOZEE Robert (eds.), Impressionism to Symbolism: The Belgian Avant-Garde 1880-1900, exhib. cat. London: Royal Academy of Arts, London 7 July - 2 October 1994.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Les XX.
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