The singular work of Ker Xavier Roussel
As a teenager he knew Edouard Vuillard, who was to become his brother-in-law and Roussel first attended the Julian Academy. There he met Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Ranson and Sérusier. The latter strove to spread Gauguin’s theories on synthetism, advocating collected and identified shapes that inspired the Nabis movement.
From 1891 to 1894 he joined the Nabis group and participated in their manifestations.
In 1897 he was supported by Vollard.
By 1900 his dealer was Jos Hessel of the Bernheim Gallery.
From 1901, Roussel exhibited mythological scenes populated with nymphs and fauns.
He discovered the South of France in 1905. His palette brightened. The touch is bright and the colours are warm. He painted a happy universe, detached from reality, animated by a mythology of fantasy, a pantheistic vision of an imaginary, daily and chimerical world. The satyrs and the driades dance in a setting often inspired by the French Riviera or the glades of the Parisian suburbs.
Roussel carried out the decoration of many public monuments such as the Chaillot Palace or the Comedy of the Champs Elysees theatre.
The profound originality of his creations is still only partially recognized and his singular work does not yet have the recognition it deserves.
Latest exhibition
Kunst Museum Winterthur
From November 19th 2016 to April 2nd 2017
Ker-Xavier Roussel,
L’après-midi d’un faune
This exhibition has presented sketches, oil studies in the relation with the monumental decoration made for the staircase of the museum : the wall panels Printemps and Automne, started in 1916 and completed in 1926.
This exhibition has also presented drawings and pastels.
Video by Kunst Museum Winterthur, on Youtube
