The mysterious exhibition of Maurice Denis in 1925

Nice. In 1925, a personal exhibition and sale by Maurice Denis (1870-1943) took place at the annual Salon of the Société des beaux-arts de Nice. It is poorly documented and, despite their research, Johanne Lindskog and Jeanne Pillon-Megale, from the Jules-Chéret Museum of Fine Arts, and Fabienne Stahl, attached to the Maurice-Denis Departmental Museum (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines), were only able to gather incomplete information about it. This 1925 exhibition constitutes the central part of a presentation intended, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Nice, for a wider audience and exploring the artist’s little-known link with the south of France.

The chrono-thematic route of the exhibition, which was preceded by the acquisition of three works by Maurice Denis, allows us to follow him, in 1906, traveling by bicycle on the Côte d’Azur with Ker-Xavier Roussel in the footsteps of friends: Cross, Signac, Valtat and Renoir receive them, but it is above all the light and the colors of the region which excite the painter. It was to Maillol, in Banyuls (Pyrénées-Orientales), that he took his wife Marthe, who was then ailing, in 1913. They then traveled the Côte d’Azur in Jean Renoir’s car. On this occasion, Denis drew Auguste Renoir: he produced an oil on wood, Portrait of Renoir, in Cagnes (1913), which he exhibited in 1925. On February 3, 1922, it was with his second wife, Élisabeth “Lisbeth” Graterole, that he left on their honeymoon to the Cap d’Antibes from where they explored the Riviera before their return to Saint-Germain-en-Laye on February 27. The catalog lists Maurice Denis’s various trips to the South, until the last one to be documented, in 1935. All these stays (the Côte d’Azur will no longer be on the program from 1922, replaced by Provence or Occitanie), as well as those made in Italy, Spain or the Maghreb, will leave their mark in the work of the 1920s, which is clearly shown in the exhibition. But one detail appeals to the visitor: why, in 1925, did Maurice Denis not go to Nice to see the hanging of his exhibition?

The last sequence of the route is devoted to this event and, for art historians, it is fascinating. Of the 43 works sent by Denis, 38 were found by the curators – 39 appear in the catalog because number 34 of the very succinct catalog of 1925 is either oil on wood View taken from the Garoupe in Antibes (1922), recently acquired by the museum, oil on cardboard View of Antibes Or Cape of Antibes (1922). There are 23 works out of the 39 present in the exhibition: two are unidentified; three, identified, are not located; the others could not be loaned. In an essay in the catalog, Jeanne Pillon-Megale notes that the works are dated from 1905 to 1924 (29 between 1920 and 1924) and sometimes came from Denis’ workshop, and even from his private collection for six issues which were not for sale, sometimes from the Druet gallery. The painter selected them partly based on what he had shown in two previous events: six of them were present at the 1922 Venice International Exhibition and twelve at his 1924 retrospective at the Central Union of Decorative Arts. The commissioner specifies: “Only three are common to all three events: the Portrait of Renoir from 1913Milan, an evening of victory (1916), one of the rare nocturnals painted by the artist, and the stained glass cardboard of The Virgin with the Kiss (1921), first completed element of the painter’s private chapel […]. On their own, these works evoke important aspects of Maurice Denis’ life: his entourage, his numerous trips to Italy and his faith. »

A disparate set

The painter sent a disparate set composed of 12 religious subjects, 9 views of Italy, 5 views of Brittany, 4 sketches of settings, 10 intimate or family scenes. The expedition was made at his own expense, which proves that he was keen on this exhibition even though we know of no relationship with the organizers of the Show, that he had little appreciation for Nice and that his life, private as well as professional, was then hectic. Did he want to rediscover the satisfaction he had felt in front of the approximately 300 works presented at the Marsan pavilion the previous year? He had seen a “recap” of his life. But here, the presentation of fewer than 40 paintings and studies could not play this role. Did he believe that his choice could interest local fans? He only sold two works, one of which, the large pastel Prayer (around 1923, [voir ill.]), displayed at 2,000 francs, was acquired for 1,800 francs by the Société des beaux-arts de Nice and offered to the Museum of Fine Arts.

It was therefore a failure for this great painter who was in demand at the time for numerous decorations and who had certainly been approached by the organizers because of this notoriety. It doesn’t appear he commented on it. He had shown his newfound family happiness and perhaps that was all that mattered. This is the opinion of Johanne Lindskog: “The most obvious hypothesis is that in fact it was a conclusion to his happy travels on the Côte d’Azur. » And a page in his life was turning.