Public Park

Public Park

Ker-Xavier RousselWW-1888-016564
1888·Oil on canvas·73.1 × 107 cm (28 3/4 × 42 1/8 in.)

<p>This group of women and girls gathered in the Tuileries Garden, a public park in Paris, appear absorbed in their individual activities. Despite this lack of overt interaction, the compressed space gives the composition a sense of intimacy, which is reinforced by the figures’ loose-fitting dresses, a style typically worn in private. The color red punctuates the scene via the stripe on an omnibus in the background and the outfit of the little girl playing among the group.</p> <p>Ker-Xavier Roussel was a member of the Nabis, the generation of artists following Post-Impressionists like <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/40810/georges-seurat"> Georges Seurat</a>. Along with other Nabi artists—including his brother-in-law <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artists/27657/edouard-jean-vuillard"> Edouard Vuillard</a>—Roussel sought to portray the beauty and mystery in everyday life.</p>

Catalogue

Year
1888
Dimensions
73.1 × 107 cm (28 3/4 × 42 1/8 in.)

Artist

Ker-Xavier Roussel
Ker-Xavier Roussel

Painting

Ker-Xavier Roussel was a French painter and printmaker associated with the Nabis movement in late 19th-century Paris. Working primarily in oil, tempera, and lithography, he developed a decorative approach to landscape and domestic interior scenes characterized by soft color harmonies and flattened pictorial space. His compositions, often featuring intimate garden settings and figures in repose, balance Post-Impressionist brushwork with the symbolic restraint favored by his peers. Roussel exhibited regularly in Paris and maintained a studio practice spanning five decades until his death in 1944.

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Pastoral (Pastorale) from Essai dur l'histoire de la lithographie en France. Les Peintures lithographes de Manet à Matisse. Album de lithographies originales.

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Women in the Country, plate six from Landscapes

Women in the Country, plate six from Landscapes

1898 · Lithograph in yellow and blue on grayish-ivory China paper

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Cupids Playing Near a Nymph, plate five from Landscapes

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Record

Verified by WattsOS
Year
1888
Dimensions
73.1 × 107 cm (28 3/4 × 42 1/8 in.)
Watts ID
WW-1888-016564

Source

Source
aic
Status
verified

Artist

Ker-Xavier Roussel

Ker-Xavier Roussel

Painting

View artist profile →