MUNICH.- In 1889/90, Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940) joined a group of artists that included, among others, Maurice Denis (1870–1943) and Paul Sérusier (1863–1927). Known as the ‘Nabis’ (meaning ‘prophets’ in Hebrew and Arabic), the group was characterised by its symbolist visual language and a search for a new understanding of colour that ventured far beyond naturalistic tones.

This exhibition of the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung does not attempt a comprehensive overview of Vuillard’s work. Instead, the collection’s rare black-and-white leaves and state proofs illuminate Vuillard’s lithographic techniques and his methods of discovering an image, in the process shedding light on the printing technique itself.

A painter of interiors and park landscapes, Vuillard is considered an ‘intimist’ within the Nabis, particularly distinguished by his introspective, masterful use of colour. Vuillard worked in lithography over a short but intense period lasting fewer than eight years. During this time he created an unmistakable body of prints, which is today most closely associated with the series Paysages et intérieurs from 1899.

However, Vuillard’s first lithographs were black-and-white. The artist’s involvement with the Parisian avant-garde theatre scene in the 1890s meant that many of his initial prints were created for theatre programmes. This period saw the premieres of many scandalous theatre productions, which often offended audience members. The lithographs Vuillard made for such productions are extremely rare, and are on view in the exhibition in unusual breadth. They demonstrate how Vuillard acquired his lithographic technique and, in a very short time, gained a virtuosic command of it. Trial proofs and first-state prints of his colour lithographs evidence the way this outstanding colourist developed new ideas for printing in colour.

The innovation and skill present in these prints confirm Vuillard’s central role in the explosion of colour lithography in Paris at the close of the 19th century. Along with artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864–1901) and Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), Vuillard’s name has become synonymous with wholly new approaches to colour in printmaking as well as unusual compositions.

In an extraordinary stroke of luck, a member of the collection’s friends group donated these lithographs to the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich, on the occasion of the exhibition and the imminent departure of its long-standing director, Dr Michael Semff.