Young Girl with a Hen|Maurice Denis |Search Collection | The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 14 August 2024

Currently not on display

Share
×
Enlarge
Zoom
Print

Currently not on display

Maurice Denis

Granville, 1870 - Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1943

Young Girl with a Hen

Date	1890
Materials and Techniques	oil on canvas
Size（cm）	134.5 x 42.5
Inscriptions	Signed and dated lower right: MAV DENIS / 1890
Credit Line	Purchased
Category	Paintings
Collection Number	P.1986-0001

In the year that this work was created, 1890, Denis was accepted for the Salon for the first time and published the essay that includes his famous definition of painting. "It is well to remember that a painting … is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order." We can clearly see the influence of Japanese art in this work with its vertically arranged composition and signature form. This influence, his use of a mosaic-like decorative effect realized through pointillist techniques, and the religious icon-like representation of the figure all represent characteristic elements of Denis' work during this period. The mystical air given to familiar everyday things which suffuses the entire image ably represents the artistic techniques of Denis' symbolist period. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.107)

Provenance

Purchesed from the artisit in 1901 by Amboise Vollard; By inheritance to Galéa Coll.; Galerie La Cave, Paris; Private Coll.U.S.A.; Olympia Gallery, Tokyo; Purchased by the NMWA, 1986.

Exhibition History

1924: Exposition Maurice Denis 1888-1924, Pavillon de Marsan, Paris, 0 April 1924 - 0 May 1924, cat. no. 14
1945: Exposition Maurice Denis 1888-1924, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 0 1945 - 0 1945, cat. no. 7
1989: The French Modern Painting, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Miyakonojo City Museum, 15 April 1989 - 14 May 1989, cat. no. 17, repr.
1990: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Ibara Municipal Denchu Art Museum, 10 April 1990 - 23 April 1990, cat. no. 18
1990: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Cultural Center of Kagawa Prefecture, Takamatsu, 28 April 1990 - 13 May 1990, cat. no. 18
1990: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Cultural Center of Toyota City, 19 May 1990 - 3 June 1990, cat. no. 18
1991: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Hachinohe City Museum of Art, 28 September 1991 - 27 October 1991, cat. no. 18
1991: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Tendo City Museum of Art, Tendo, 1 November 1991 - 24 November 1991, cat. no. 18
1992: [Tour Exhibition] The French Modern Art, from the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Urasoe Art Museum, 3 November 1992 - 7 December 1992, cat. no. 18
1996: The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 45
2000: Les Nabis et le Japon, The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 15 September 2000 - 5 November 2000, cat. no. II-1-10, col. repr.
2008: Happy Mother, Happy Children: Hohoemi no Taiyou, Haha to Ko no Uta, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, 4 October 2008 - 14 December 2008, cat. no. 16, col. repr.
2012: Maurice Denis, Le matin de la vie, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, 10 January 2012 - 4 March 2012, cat. no. 11, col. repr.
2020: Dreamed childhoods: Bonnard, the Nabis and childhood, Mitsubishi Ichigoukan Museum, Tokyo, 15 February 2020 - 22 September 2020, no. 42, col. repr.

Bibliography

1945: Barazzetti-Demoulin, Suzanne. Maurice Denis: 25 novembre 1870 - 13 novembre 1943. Paris, 1945, p. 277.
1989: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1989 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 96, repr.
1990: Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. Nos. 21-22 (1986-87), 1990, Takahashi, Akiya. New Aquisitions 1986-87. p. 13, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions 1986-87. pp. 28-29, repr.
1990: Catalogue of painting acquisitions: 1979-1989. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1990, pp. 27-29, repr.
1992: The French Modern Art, from The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, ed. Okinawa, Urasoe Art Museum, 1992, p. 28, cat. no. 18, col. repr
2000: Les Nabis et le Japon (exh. cat.). Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, ed. Nagaoka, Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, 2000, pp. 64, 248, cat. no. II-1-10, col. repr.
2007: Kitazaki, Chikashi. Style as mosaic: one sspect of Pointillism in the works of Maurice Denis. Journal of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. No. 11, 2007, pp. 6-23, repr. [with English abstract]
2008: Happy Mother, Happy Children: Hohoemi no Taiyou, Haha to Ko no Uta(exh.cat.). Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, ed. Hachioji, Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, 2008, cat. no. 16, col. repr.
2009: Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 107, col. repr.
2011: Exposition Maurice Denis: Le matin de la vie(exh. cat.). NHK: NHK Promotions, c2011, cat. no. 11, col. repr.
2013: Divisionism from Van Gogh and Seurat to Mondrian(exh. cat.). [Tokyo], Tokyo Shimbun; NHK; NHK Promotions, c2013, cat. no. 34, col. repr.
2013: Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 110, col. repr.
2020: Enfances Rêvées, Bonnard, les Nabis et l'enfance. Sugiyama, Naoko; Mizuno, Masami; Yoshida, Wakana, eds. [Tokyo], Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, 2020, pp. 86, 207, cot. no. 42, col. repr

Page top