Bande Noir
Group of painters active in France in the 1890s and noted for the generally dark tonality of their work. The term (or less frequently ‘the Nubians’, in contrast to the Nabis painters) became associated with the group following the exhibition of Charles Cottet’s The Burial (Lille, Mus. B.-A.) at the Salon of 1894 in Paris. Cottet was inspired by the harsh life of the Breton fishermen to produce such works as Sorrow, the Triptych of
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Bande Noir
Group of painters active in France in the 1890s and noted for the generally dark tonality of their work. The term (or less frequently ‘the Nubians’, in contrast to the Nabis painters) became associated with the group following the exhibition of Charles Cottet’s The Burial (Lille, Mus. B.-A.) at the Salon of 1894 in Paris. Cottet was inspired by the harsh life of the Breton fishermen to produce such works as Sorrow, the Triptych of the Farewells (both Paris, Mus. d’Orsay) and Low Mass (Paris, Petit Pal.). Reaching beyond the confines of Impressionism, he sought to rediscover Gustave Courbet’s realist style, constructing the dark, often black, masses of his compositions with vigorous brushstrokes. The artists closest to Cottet were Lucien Simon and André Dauchez (1870–1943); the three met in 1895 and formed a loose affiliation. Simon was more of a colourist than Cottet, yet such works as The Procession (1901; Paris, Mus. d’Orsay) show the latter’s influence. Dauchez, whose Seaweed Burners (1898; Moulins, Mus. Moulins) is a striking example of his interest in Breton subjects, was primarily a draughtsman and engraver.
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