Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897 Published by Guggenheim Museum Publications. Edited with text by Vivien Greene. Text by Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond, Kenneth E. Silver, Ylinka Barotto, Caroline Guignard, Alison Hokanson, Natalia Lauricella, Glynnis Stevenson. Art, occultism and decadence from late 19th-century France Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897 accompanied the first-ever museum presentation examining the Salon de la Rose+Croix, a series of annual exhibitions established by eccentric French author, critic, occultist and Rosicrucian Joséphin Péladan. The Rose+Croix convened an international group of Symbolist artists around a shared refutation of Realist aesthetics and philosophy, frequently in favor of the ideal and the mystical. Among the participants were Pierre Amédée Marcel-Béronneau, Jean Delville, Fernand Khnopff, Charles Maurin, Armand Point, Alexandre Séon and Félix Vallotton. Bound in red velvet with gold-stamped lettering to conjure the evocative atmosphere of the Salons, the catalog features essays about the history, themes and often spiritual aims of the Rose+Croix (Vivien Greene), its reception by the press and the public in the 1890s (Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond) and the importance of spiritualism to early 20th-century abstraction (Kenneth E. Silver). This richly illustrated volume also contains 46 color plates, entries on each exhibited artist and a bibliography of contemporary sources on Symbolist art.
Vivien Greene is Senior Curator of 19th- and Early 20th-Century Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond is an art historian and author of Painters of the Soul: Symbolism in France. Kenneth E. Silver is Professor of Art History at New York University. Ylinka Barotto is Assistant Curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Caroline Guignard is Conservator at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva, Switzerland. Alison Hokanson is Curator of Northern Renaissance Painting at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Natalia Lauricella is a PhD candidate at the University of Southern California. Glynnis Stevenson is Project Assistant II of French Paintings Catalogue at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Missouri. |