The new collection of French graphic works
In the spring of 2000 the Vincent van Gogh Foundation, owner of the major portion of the works in the Van Gogh Museum, purchased an extensive and important collection of prints dating from the last two decades of the 19th century. These were acquired from a private collector who had accumulated them over a 50-year period. Thanks to this new acquisition, which comprises more than 800 works by artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Félix Valloton, the museum can now boast a collection that includes most of the major prints produced in Paris between 1890 and 1905. A new focal point for the museum has been instantly created, providing a fine impression of art in the 15 years following Van Gogh's death that complements the existing range of works by the artist himself, his predecessors and contemporaries.
During the 1880s and 1890s the graphic arts underwent an evolution. Prints, particularly lithographs, had previously been regarded as mainly reproductive or used for political purposes, but by the end of the 80s the emphasis increasingly lay on their artistic quality and they became an independent art form. The majority of prints made in this period, largely coloured lithographs, were produced in limited editions (circa 100), intended for aficionados and collectors.
An important role in these developments was played by a group of artists known as the Nabis, or Prophets, who were active in Paris between 1890 and 1905. Although the association had no formal structure and its various members worked in widely differing styles, there were nonetheless similarities: compositions were often constructed of planes of colour, contours emphasized and some elements reduced to silhouettes. All these features can be largely attributed to the influence of Japanese prints.
The art dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard was a great champion of the Nabis' graphic production. By publishing albums and print series by these artists he became responsible for some of the most impressive series of prints in the history of the graphic arts: Maurice Denis's Amour series, Bonnard's Quelques aspects de la vie de Paris, and Vuillard's Paysages et intérieurs. The Van Gogh Museum now has complete sets of all three. Vollard also brought out special collector's editions of books illustrated by Nabis artists, such as Verlaine's Parallèlement, with illustrations by Bonnard. This book and some 20 others like it have been added to the museum's collection as well.
The most striking works are the Nabis' contributions to the avant-garde journal La Revue Blanche and the albums of L'Estampe originale. This latter publication, which appeared nine times between 1893 and 1895 and on which 75 artists collaborated, constituted a veritable breakthrough in the acceptance of graphic art as an autonomous medium. The recent acquisition means that the Van Gogh Museum now owns a virtually complete set of L'Estampe originale.
The new collection of prints also includes an impressive group of applied graphic works. Artists such as Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre Bonnard, who were closely involved in avant-garde theatre, regularly produced magnificent designs for posters, theatre programmes and song sheets.
Before acquiring this splendid collection the Van Gogh Museum already possessed several hundred 19th-century French prints. However, these works were largely unconnected with each other, making it difficult to devise a focused collecting policy. Purchase of the Nabis collection has resolved this situation, as these works will provide a foundation on which to base future acquisitions.
In the months that have passed since acquiring the collection and the appearance of this volume of the Van Gogh Museum Journal it has not been possible to produce a comprehensive description of the new works. However, the colour pages (pp. 114-19) do include six reproductions to supplement this brief summary. Next year's Journal will contain a list describing all the works; at a later date a separate catalogue will be devoted to the new collection.
Marije Vellekoop
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