From October 28, 2017 through January 7, 2018, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection presents Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, the first museum exhibition on this revelatory and significant yet frequently overlooked series of Salons.
Alphonse Osbert, Vision, 1892. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of Yolande Osbert 1977
Mysterious, mythical, and visionary themes, often drawn from literature, prevailed in the art of the six exhibitions, which were held annually in Paris from 1892 to 1897. Images of femmes fragiles and fatales, androgynous creatures, chimeras, and incubi were the norm, as were sinuous lines, attenuated figures, and anti-naturalistic forms.
Alexandre Séon, The Lament of Orpheus, ca. 1896. Musée d’Orsay, Paris, Gift of Fleury Gromollard, nephew and heir of the artist 1917
Featuring highlights from the Salons, this exhibition includes approximately forty works by a cross section of artists—some familiar, others less so—and invite a fresh look at and new scholarship on the legacies of late nineteenth-century Symbolist art. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is the second venue of the exhibition, after the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (June 30 – October 4, 2017).
Alexandre Séon, Le Sâr Joséphin Péladan, 1891. Musée des Beaux Arts, Lyon
In the spring of 1892 Joséphin Péladan (1858–1918), author, critic, and Rosicrucian, organized the first Salon de la Rose+Croix at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. Showcasing mystical Symbolist art, particularly a hermetic and spiritually devoted vein favored by the eccentric Péladan, the annual Salons were cosmopolitan in reach and served as a crossroads, gathering the work of artists from Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland.
Pierre Amédée Marcel Béronneau, Orpheus (Orphée), 1897. Musée des Beaux Arts, Marseille
Benefiting from extensive research to identify artworks shown in the original exhibitions, Mystical Symbolism will encompass painting, work on paper, and sculpture by artists such as Antoine Bourdelle, Rogelio de Egusquiza, Jean Delville, Charles Filiger, Fernand Khnopff, Charles Maurin, Alphonse Osbert, Armand Point, Georges Rouault, Carlos Schwabe, Alexandre Séon, Jan Toorop, Ville Vallgren, and Félix Vallotton.
Charles Maurin, The Dawn of the Dream (L’aurore du rêve), ca. 1891. Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Saint Étienne Métropole, France
Mystical Symbolism is organized by Vivien Greene, Senior Curator, 19th- and Early 20th-Century Art, with the assistance of Ylinka Barotto, Assistant Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Carlos Schwabe, Poster for the first Salon de la Rose+Croix, 1892. © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, New York
Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897
28.10.2017 – 07.01.2018
Image 1: Charles Maurin, L’Aurore du travail (The Dawn of Labor), 1891. Ph: Yves Bresson, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Saint Étienne Métropole, France
Discover: www.guggenheim-venice.it
