Artwork Page for It Was a Religious Mystery

Details / Information for It Was a Religious Mystery

Series Title: Love, Amour

It Was a Religious Mystery

1899

Maurice Denis

(French, 1870–1943)
printer

August Clot

(French, 1858–1936)
publisher

Ambroise Vollard

(French, 1867–1939)
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Culture
Medium
color lithograph on wove paper
Measurements
Image: 41.4 x 29.5 cm (16 5/16 x 11 5/8 in.); Sheet: 53.5 x 40.6 cm (21 1/16 x 16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the Jane B. Tripp Charitable Lead Annuity Trust and partial gift of Stephen Dull 2021.170.5
Catalogue raisonné
Cailler 111
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

Maurice Denis was a devout Catholic and often drew visual connections between his wife, Marthe, the subject of this print series, and the Virgin Mary.

Description

Maurice Denis belonged to the Nabis, a group of artists who came together in 1889 to pursue a radical new style informed by subjective experience and emotion. This print is from a series in which Denis explored his devotion to his wife, Marthe, by depicting her in a variety of settings alongside titles drawn from his own journal. The vague but evocative images were meant to encourage the viewer to draw connections to the theme and meditate on its meaning.
A vertically oriented color lithograph features two figures in profile rendered in muted blue, yellow, and gray tones. In the center, a figure with long, pale hair faces right, hands raised toward their chest. A second figure leans from the upper right with downcast eyes. Vertical color bands form a textured background behind them. Small handwritten text and a signature are visible in the lower margin.

It Was a Religious Mystery

1899

Maurice Denis, August Clot, Ambroise Vollard

(French, 1870–1943), (French, 1858–1936), (French, 1867–1939)

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