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1861-1909
ROCHERS EN ESKUAL HERRIA

ROCHERS EN ESKUAL HERRIA

81 by 100cm., 31 7/8 by 39 3/8 in.

Painted in 1891.

signed P. Ranson (lower right)

oil on canvas

PROVENANCE

Private Collection, Europe

EXHIBITED

Pont-Aven, Musée Municipal, 1886-1986, Cent ans, Gauguin à Pont-Aven, 1985, no. 60, illustrated in the catalogue

LITERATURE

Paul Elie Ranson, du symbolisme à l'Art Nouveau (exhibition catalogue), Musée départemental Maurice Denis 'Le Prieuré', Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1997-98, illustrated in colour p. 56
Brigitte Ranson Bitker & Gilles Genty, Paul Ranson, 1861-1909, Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1999, no. 66, illustrated in colour p. 112

NOTE

Depicting mossy green-capped cliffs plunging into a turquoise ocean, Les Rochers en Eskual Herria is a primary example of Ranson's Nabi period. The artist was a key member of this movement alongside Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard. Building on the artistic principles of Gauguin, the young artists developed a colour-saturated palette that would complement their fluid and fantastical forms. Their style shows a strong influence taken from Far-Eastern works synonymous with the Japoniste trends of the time (fig. 7). Ranson, the most fervent proponent of the group, became known as the Nabi plus japonard que le Nabi japonard.

In the present work, the undulations of the cliffs and the waves contrasting with the calm of the horizon lead the viewer into a state of reverie and reflection enhanced by the lack of human presence. As the artist wrote to Maurice Denis at the time he painted this work 'I went to meditate in the desert of Eskual Herria and there I heard the song of spirits in the air and smelled the perfumed light, and the veil that was covering my eyes was torn off and the things that were concealed from me were revealed' (quoted in Paul Elie Ranson, du symbolisme à l'Art Nouveau, op. cit., p. 56).

Hokusai_comp
Fig. 1, Katsushika Hokusai, Kanagawa oki nami ura, woodblock, 1831 (sold: Sotheby's, Paris, Collection Huguette Berès, 27th November 2002, lot 107)