Les Nabis were a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who set the pace for fine arts and graphic arts in France in the 1890s Initially a group of friends interested in contemporary art and literature, most of them studied at the private art school of Rodolphe Julian in Paris in the late 1880s

In 1890, they began to participate successfully in public exhibitions, while most of their artistic output remained in private hands or in the possession of the artists themselves By 1896, the unity of the group had already begun to break: The Homage to Cézanne, painted by Maurice Denis in 1900, recollects memories of a time already gone, before even the term Nabis had been revealed to the public Meanwhile, most members of the group—Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard—could stand, artistically, on their own Only Paul Sérusier had problems to overcome—though it was his Talisman, painted at the advice of Paul Gauguin, that had revealed to them the way to go

Les Nabis (French pronunciation: [le nabi]) were a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who set the pace for fine arts and graphic arts in France in the 1890s Initially a group of friends interested in contemporary art and literature, most of them studied at the private art school of Rodolphe Julian (Académie Julian) in Paris in the late 1880s

In 1890, they began to participate successfully in public exhibitions, while most of their artistic output remained in private hands or in the possession of the artists themselves By 1896, the unity of the group had already begun to break: Homage to Cézanne, painted by Maurice Denis in 1900, recollects memories of a time already gone, even before the term Nabis had been revealed to the public Meanwhile, most members of the group, including Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, and Édouard Vuillard, could stand on their own artistically Only Paul Sérusier had problems to overcome – though it was his Talisman, painted at the advice of Paul Gauguin, that had revealed to them the way to go

The term was coined by the linguist Auguste Cazalis, who drew a parallel between the way these painters aimed to revitalize painting and the way the ancient prophets had rejuvenated Israel Possibly, the nickname arose because “most of them wore beards, some were Jews and all were desperately earnest”

Les Nabis artists worked in a variety of media, using oils on both canvas and cardboard, and distemper on canvas and wall decoration, and they also produced posters, prints, book illustrations, textiles and furniture Considered to be on the cutting edge of modern art during their early period, their subject matter was representational, but was design-oriented along the lines of the Japanese prints they so admired, and Art Nouveau Unlike those types, however, the artists of this circle were highly influenced by the paintings of the Impressionists, and thus while sharing the flatness, page layout, and negative space of art nouveau and other decorative modes, much of Les Nabis art has a painterly, non-realistic look, with color palettes reminiscent of Cézanne and Gauguin Bonnard’s posters and lithographs are more firmly in the Art Nouveau, or Toulouse-Lautrec manner After the turn of the century, as modern art moved towards Abstraction, Expressionism, and Cubism, Les Nabis were viewed as conservatives and, indeed, were among the last group of artists to stick to the roots and artistic ambitions of the Impressionists, pursuing these ends almost into the middle of the 20th century In their later years, these painters also largely abandoned their earlier interests in decorative and applied arts