Maurice Denis' Amour is an extended love letter to the woman who became his wife and muse. The title of each of the 12 prints is taken from the diary Denis kept of the courtship, which he transfigures in these scenes of his beloved asleep, picking roses, praying, or simply gazing back at him. All the dramatic use of flat colour and strong outlines that characterised the Nabi group of which he was the leader and theorist is present in these prints, but suffused in an otherworldly light and breathing an ethereal tenderness. This is one of the three hugely original portfolios of etchings brought out in 1899 by the great dealer Ambroise Vollard, and printed by the master craftsman Auguste Clot. The other two are by Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard, and all three are being published simultaneously by Pallas Athene.
1.
Allegorie
Allegory
2.
Les attitudes sont faciles et chastes
Gestures are Easy and Chaste
3.
Le bouquet matinal, les larmes
Morning Bouquet, Tears...
4.
Ce fut un religieux mystère
It Was a Religious Mystery
5.
Le chevalier nest pas mort à la croisade
The Knight Did Not Die in the Crusade
6.
Les Crépuscules ont une douceur dancienne peinture
Twilights Have the Softness of Old Painting
7.
Elle était plus belle que les rêves
She Was More Beautiful Than Dreams
8.
Et cest la caresse de ses mains
And It Is the Caress of Her Hands
9.
Nos âmes, en des gestes lents
Our Souls, in Languorous Gestures
10.
Sur le canapé dargent pâle
On the Pale Silver Sofa
11.
La vie devient précieuse, discrète
Life Becomes Precious, Discreet
12.
Mais cest le coeur qui bat trop vite
But It Is the Heart that Beats Too Fast
Maurice Denis (1870-1943) was one of the most influential artists of his time. A founder of the group known as the Nabis, he was their theorist and leader. His later career included some of the largest public commissions of their time, often executed with dramatic simplicity and spectacular colour.
