Forces Nouvelles
French group organized by the painter and critic Henri Héraut (b 1894), whose first exhibition, in April 1935 at the Galerie Billiet-Vorms in Paris, consisted of paintings by Héraut, Robert Humblot (190762), Henri Jannot (b 1909), Jean Lasne (191146), Alfred Pellan, Georges Rohner (b 1913) and Pierre Tal-Coat. Héraut, the eldest of the painters, hoped to establish a new aesthetic through the group and stated in his preface to the catalogue that since all modern
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Forces Nouvelles
French group organized by the painter and critic Henri Héraut (b 1894), whose first exhibition, in April 1935 at the Galerie Billiet-Vorms in Paris, consisted of paintings by Héraut, Robert Humblot (190762), Henri Jannot (b 1909), Jean Lasne (191146), Alfred Pellan, Georges Rohner (b 1913) and Pierre Tal-Coat. Héraut, the eldest of the painters, hoped to establish a new aesthetic through the group and stated in his preface to the catalogue that since all modern movements, starting with Impressionism and Expressionism, had endangered art there was a need to return to drawing, tradition and nature. The groups concentration on nature was often manifested in their preference for still-lifes, such as Lasnes Still-life (1939; Paris, Pompidou). Sensitive to the political situation in Europe, they rejected light-hearted subject-matter, often dwelling on disaster, as in Humblots Dead Child (1936; priv. col., see exh. cat., pl. 11), and relied on a restricted dark palette, as in Hérauts Othello (1935; Rennes, Mus. B.-A. & Archéol.).
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