Veridian E-Journal, Silpakorn University International (Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts) ISSN 1906 – 3431 Volume 11 Number 4 January-June 2018 Libertarian creeds and artists of the symbolist movements* ลัทธิอิสรเสรีนิยมและศิลปินสัญลักษณ์นิยม Sébastien Tayac (เซบาสเตียน ตา-ยาค)** Abstract: The political, social and religious ideas of artists are usually put aside to present only their thoughts on the artistic field. To fill this void, the article focuses on unveiling the commitments and libertarian creeds of artists of the symbolist nebula at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century; namely, Paul Gauguin, the group of the Nabis and Joséphin Péladan. Keywords: Symbolism, libertarianism, Gauguin, Nabis, Péladan. * The purpose of this article is to highlight the political, social and religious convictions, often hidden, of symbolist artists, with particular emphasis on their relationships with the different currents of anarchism. วัตถุประสงค์ของบทความนี้เพื่อเน้นย้้าความเชื่อมั่นทางการเมือง สังคม และศาสนา ที่มักถูกซ่อนเร้นในกลุ่มของศิลปินลัทธิสัญลักษณ์นิยม โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งความสัมพันธ์ของพวกเขากับอนาธิปไตยในหลากหลายรูปแบบในปัจจุบัน ** Lecturer, Painting Division, Visual Arts Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Chiang Mai University. Email: [email protected] 453 International (Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts) Veridian E-Journal, Silpakorn University Volume 11 Number 4 January-June 2018 ISSN 1906 – 3431 บทคัดย่อ: แนวคิดทางการเมือง สังคม และศาสนาของศิลปินมักถูกทิ้งไว้เพื่อน้าเสนอความคิดของพวกเขาใน ส่วนของศิลปะเท่านั้น เพื่อเติมเต็มช่องว่างดังกล่าวบทความนี้จึงมุ่งเน้นที่จะเปิดเผยความมุ่งมั่นของลัทธิอิสรเสรี นิยมของศิลปินลัทธิสัญลักษณ์นิยมเนบิวลา โดยเฉพาะ พอล โกแกง กลุ่มของ นาบิส และ โจเซแฟง เปลาดัง ช่วง ปลายศตวรรษที่สิบเก้าและช่วงต้นศตวรรษที่ยี่สิบ ค ำส ำคัญ: ลัทธิสัญลักษณ์นิยม, ลัทธิเสรีนิยมประชาธิปไตย, โกแกง, นาบิส, เปลาดัง. In the ruins of the French Second Empire (1852-1870), the French Third Republic (1870-1940) tried to implement national cohesion using patriotic and revenge ideals after the defeat in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). In this period of bankruptcy of conservatism and generalized decadence, society was deeply bourgeois, led by a middle class that had just come to power and that was hostile to the demands of the proletariat, just as much as it displayed wariness of new developments in the arts. In this particular context, numerous links were established between the artistic and political fields, especially between symbolist and anarchist ideals. As an example of this relationship, in 1885, the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) published the book Paroles d’un révolté (Words of a Rebel), in which he addressed a message to artists. He wrote: You, poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, if you understand your true mission and the very interests of art itself, come with us. Place your pen, your pencil, your chisel, and your ideas at the service of the revolution […] Show the people how hideous is their actual life. (Quoted in Leighten, 2013: 6) Despite this context of cooperation between artists and revolutionaries, the symbolist painters were always perceived as being distant from the real world, “entrenched in the extreme limits of mystery, ending up producing alone and for their private use, exclusively” (Quoted in Pellois, 2012: 93, author’s translation). Contradicting this prejudice against symbolist artists, Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond has shown that they were: far from being recluses, living in the secret of the workshop and despising the contemporary world, far from dreaming of an idealized past only to advocate restoration, these painters and sculptors claimed the right to an idealist art, not only to transcend nature and fight against the supremacy of materialism, but also so that this elevated vision of human being could be collective and prelude to a new social era. (Jumeau-Lafond, 1999: 20, author’s translation) 454 Veridian E-Journal, Silpakorn University International (Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts) ISSN 1906 – 3431 Volume 11 Number 4 January-June 2018 Nevertheless, even though studies on symbolists’ artworks and ideas about art are numerous, analyses of their political, social and religious thoughts are rare. Highlighting the political aspirations of the symbolists and not reducing them to their artistic visions appears relevant. Regardless, before delving into the ramifications that could exist between the doctrine of anarchism and artists of symbolist obedience, it is important to define these two notions. Anarchism and symbolism, as multifaceted movements, remain nebulae with poorly defined contours, which, like all such movements, are traversed by internal tensions. This postulate is fundamental to the understanding of this article. According to François Richard (1988: 9), the ideology of anarchism is defined by three branches. First, an anarchism of the left, stemming from the progressive thought of the eighteenth century, which played an important role in all the emancipation movements of the people (cf. Bakunin, Proudhon). Secondly, a “raw” anarchism, which does not refer to an ideology, but advocates absolute freedom and the rejection of any power whatsoever, and that is assimilated, rightly or wrongly, with excessive individualism (cf. Max Stirner). Finally, a right-wing anarchism, that has sources in the baroque stream and libertine philosophy, which developed in literature, and elsewhere in aristocratic and libertarian themes (cf. Gobineau, Barbey d'Aurevilly, Bloy or Drumont). Symbolism appears in the current notions of art history as one of the last figurative movements before the abstraction phase and which, unlike Impressionism, is associated with both the visual arts and literature. While the writings of Jean Moréas1 (1856-1910) or Albert Aurier2 (1865-1892) could be used to define symbolism, Rémy de Gourmont’s (1858-1915) definition, as it appeared in le livre des masques3 (The Book of Masks), seems more appropriate. For him, the word symbolism means: practically nothing, if we adhere to the narrow etymological sense. If we go beyond that definition, it may mean individualism in literature, liberty in art, abandonment of taught formulas, tendencies towards the new and the strange, or even towards the bizarre. (Gourmont, 1921: 10) Similar to Gustave Moreau (1826-1898), Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) or Odilon Redon (1840-1916), Paul Gauguin is one of the precursors of symbolism. In the summer of 1888, Paul Sérusier sojourned in Pont-Aven (Brittany, in north western France). During an outdoor lesson with Gauguin, Paul Sérusier created a painting – later called le talisman - on 1 Moréas, Jean. « Le Symbolisme ». Le Figaro, le samedi 18 septembre 1886, Supplément littéraire, p. 1-2. 2 Aurier, G. Albert. « Le Symbolisme en Peinture : Paul Gauguin », Mercure de France, t. II, n° 15, mars 1891, p. 155-165. 3 The Book of Masks was published in 1896. 455 International (Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts) Veridian E-Journal, Silpakorn University Volume 11 Number 4 January-June 2018 ISSN 1906 – 3431 the lid of a cigar box. When he returned to Paris, Sérusier showed it to his classmates at the Académie Julian (firstly, Henri-Gabriel Ibels, Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, Paul Ranson, then, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Verkade and Vuillard). Le talisman became a revelation of what their art should become; these young artists created the group of Nabis, meaning “prophet” in Hebrew, around the personality of Paul Gauguin, their Messiah. They chose to refer to themselves using this term in order to state their common willingness to renew painting. With spiritual aims based in Orphism (doctrine of ancient Greece based on the myth of Orpheus) or in Theosophy (religious syncretism according to which all religions have a part of truth), the group of Nabis would later be joined by other artists such as Félix Vallotton (1892). Under the leadership of Paul Sérusier, these young artists formed a heterogeneous group in Paris from 1888 to 1900 which was in “competition” with the neo-impressionists for the legacy of the Impressionists. From 1892 to 1897, Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918) established in Paris an annual exhibition called the Salon de la Rose+Croix (sic) for painters, writers, and musicians. Occultist, historian of religions, art critic, novelist, essayist and playwright, Péladan shared both his Symbolist artistic ideals and his political views during these events. The Nabis were among the participants. All these symbolist artists were not only gentle dreamers, but also men with political and libertarian aspirations. In this way, the purpose of this article is to highlight the complex libertarian spirit of the symbolist artists in the last twenty years of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, focusing first on Paul Gauguin, then on the Nabis group, and finally on Joséphin Péladan and the Salon de la Rose+Croix. 1°) Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), or the eternal rebel Gauguin was the grandson of the socialist writer and activist Flora Tristan4 (1803- 1844). In Avant et après (Before and After), written in 1902-1903, Gauguin says that his, “grandmother was an odd old lady. […] Proudhon5 used to say that she had genius. Knowing nothing of the matter, I trust Proudhon” (Quoted in Prather & Stucker, 1987: 31). Even though Flora Tristan died four years before Gauguin was born, he, “idolized his grandmother, and kept copies of her books with him to the end of his life” (Bowness, 1971: 6). His father, Clovis Gauguin, anti-Bonapartiste