Private Lives: Home and Family in the Art of the Nabis, Paris, 1889-1900

by Mary Weaver Chapin and Heather Lemonedes Brown

Francesca Berry, Francesca Britton, Kathleen Kete, Saskia Ooms, and Francesca Brittan

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A New York Times best art book of 2021

In 1889, avant-garde artists in Paris formed a brotherhood to promote a radical new direction in art. Adopting the name Nabis—Hebrew for “prophets”—they aimed to capture subjective experience and emotion in their paintings, prints, and drawings. This volume focuses on intimate views of home and family by four Nabi artists: Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947), Maurice Denis (1870–1943), Félix Vallotton (1865–1925), and Édouard Vuillard (1868–1940). For Bonnard and Denis, this arena was ideal for depicting small pleasures and modest acts of life; Vallotton and Vuillard, however, hinted at the tensions simmering just below the surface. This gorgeous catalogue is the first to delve deeply into the Nabis’ use of domestic life as the locus for artistic inspiration.

Distributed for the Cleveland Museum of Art


Exhibition Schedule:

The Cleveland Museum of Art
(July 1–September 19, 2021)

Portland Art Museum, OR
(October 23, 2021–January 23, 2022)
  • ISBN10 0300257597
  • ISBN13 9780300257595
  • Publish Date 10 August 2021
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 6 June 2023
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint Yale University Press