Updated 09 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
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.
- 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
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 110, 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.
- 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