Chrysalide, La

About Chrysalide, La

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Chrysalide, La
Belgian avant-garde exhibition society (1875–1881). It continued the principles and traditions of youthful rebellion and artistic freedom established by the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts and included many of its members, such as Guillaume Vogels, Théodore Baron (1840–99), Constantin Meunier, Louis Artan de Saint-Martin (1837–90), and Félicien Rops. Like its predecessor, it provided an alternative to the official Salon. Founded by Arthur Hannay, a government bureaucrat, the group welcomed an eclectic mix of Belgian artists, musicians and singers. Its name, illustrated by the vignette designed by Rops for the invitation to the first exhibition, uses the image of the emerging butterfly to predict the success of new art over academic work. Its exhibitions were immediately successful; they showed works that were personal responses to nature rather than historical or religious subjects in the academic tradition. The first exhibition in November 1876 paid homage to Hippolyte Boulenger, a leading independent artist, and included works criticized as ‘sketchy’ by conservatives. Other exhibitions occurred in March 1878 and June 1881. La Chrysalide had close ties to the advanced literary group that published a journal of the same name edited by Théo Hannon (1851–1916) and Camille Lemonnier (1844–1913), critics who had been closely associated with the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts. The journal was sympathetic to young writers and included colour lithographs by contemporary Belgian and French artists. La Chrysalide provided an early showcase for young Belgian artists such as Fernand Khnopff, James Ensor and Alfred William Finch, subsequently participants in L’Essor and founding members of Les XX. Even though La Chrysalide’s eclecticism made it unwieldy and unfocused and its life was short, its example, together with that of the journal, prompted subsequent avant-garde publications such as La Jeune Revue littéraire and exhibition groups such as Les XX, which viewed La Chrysalide as an artistic and spiritual predecessor. (hide)

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