Galerie Paul Prouté

A Nabi painter renowned for his religious mysticism and pastel palette, Maurice Denis was highly active as a decorator, not only on walls (the dome of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées) but also on paper: he considered illustration to be “the decoration of a book.” Under the patronage of the publisher and art dealer Ambroise Vollard, he notably illustrated Paul Verlaine’s Sagesse and André Gide’s Le Voyage d’Urien with woodcuts, the execution of which was entrusted to the professional engraver Jacques Beltrand. Although woodcut required a simplification that lent itself well to Symbolism, Denis quickly abandoned the medium. Unfamiliar with the technical intricacies of etching, he became a master of lithographic techniques (wash, scraping, “crachis”) with the help of the printer Auguste Clot. This collaboration gave rise to a collection of twelve large-scale color lithographs titled Amour (1899), the culmination of the artist’s print production; he subsequently practiced printmaking on a more sporadic and anecdotal basis, creating announcements, programs, and bookplates.