14 Works, Today, March 7th. is artist Paul Émile Chabas' day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #065

Paul Émile Chabas  (1869–1937)

Jeune Naiade/ Young Naiad

Oil on panel

22 x 37cm (8 11/16 x 14 9/16in)

Private collection

In Greek mythology, the Naiads are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.

They are distinct from river gods, who embodied rivers, and the very ancient spirits that inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes, such as pre-Mycenaean Lerna in the Argolis.

Naiads were associated with fresh water, as the Oceanids were with saltwater and the Nereids specifically with the Mediterranean, but because the ancient Greeks thought of the world's waters as all one system, which percolated in from the sea in deep cavernous spaces within the earth, there was some overlap. Arethusa, the nymph of a spring, could make her way through subterranean flows from the Peloponnesus, to surface on the island of Sicily. More on Naiads

Paul Émile Chabas (March 7, 1869 – May 10, 1937) was a French painter and illustrator and member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Paul Émile Chabas  (1869–1937)

Joyeux Ébats/ Dancing Nymphs, c. 1899

Oil on canvas

Height: 73.5 cm (28.9 in); Width: 116 cm (45.6 in)

Private collection

A nymph in Greek and Latin mythology is a minor female nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from other goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing; their amorous freedom sets them apart from the restricted and chaste wives and daughters of the Greek polis. They are beloved by many and dwell in mountainous regions and forests by lakes and streams. Although they would never die of old age nor illness, and could give birth to fully immortal children if mated to a god, they themselves were not necessarily immortal, and could be beholden to death in various forms. More on nymphs

He was born in Nantes, and had his artistic training under William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. He first exhibited at the Salon in 1890. Chabas won the Prix National at the 1899 Paris Salon with his Joyeux Ébats (See above). 

Paul Émile Chabas  (1869–1937)

Reclining nude, c. 1886

Oil on canvas

25cm x 45cm 

Private collection

Paul-Émile Chabas (French, 1869-1937)

Reclining model

Oil on canvas

18½ x 24 in. (47 x 61 cm.)

Private collection

He was awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 and in 1912 received the Médaille d’honneur. His preferred subject was a nude young woman in a natural setting. He was considered to be one of Europe's greatest painters of nudes.

Paul Émile Chabas  (1869–1937)

Matinée de Septembre/ September Morn, circa 1912

Oil on canvas

Height: 163.8 cm (64.4 in); Width: 216.5 cm (85.2 in)

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Matinée de Septembre/ September Morn is a controversial oil painting on canvas completed in 1911 by the French artist Paul Émile Chabas. Painted over several summers, it depicts a nude girl or young woman standing in the shallow water of a lake, prominently lit by the morning sun. She is leaning slightly forward in an ambiguous posture, which has been read variously as a straightforward portrayal of protecting her modesty, huddling against the cold, or sponge bathing. It has also been considered a disingenuous pose permitting the "fetishisation of innocence". More on this painting

His most famous painting, Matinée de Septembre (September Morn) (1912) (See above), became a "succès de scandale" in the United States in May, 1913, when Anthony Comstock, secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, protested against the painting as supposedly immoral. 

Paul Emile Chabas (French, 1869–1937)

Nude female figure

watercolor on paper

6.75 x 10 in. (17.1 x 25.4 cm.)

Private collection

Chabas was offended by the controversy over the painting. For a time he sought anonymity in the South of France. There was much publicity, and reproductions of the painting sold well for years afterwards. September Morn has often been cited as an example of kitsch. Chabas refused to identify the model who was the subject of the painting, referring to her only as "Marthe". However, the controversy regarding the painting's model refused to disappear. 

Paul Émile Chabas  (1869–1937)

Premier bain/ The first bath, c. 1907

Oil on canvas

I have no further description, at this time

As late as 1935, a rumor circulated that the young woman was living in poverty and Chabas was receiving letters from people in the US who wanted to come to her aid. He also recalled how offended he was when the painting was considered indecent by some in the US more than twenty years before.

Paul E. CHABAS (1869-1937)

Nu à la rivière/ Nude at the river

Oil on canvas

38 x 46 cm

Private collection

Chabas first visited the United States in 1914 for a season of painting there. Before the journey he commented on rumors that he disliked the US, as he refused to sell September Morn to a US newspaper publisher after the controversy about the painting began. Chabas said he did not originally intend to sell the painting, because it was his wife's favorite. When he entered the painting in the Paris Salon of 1912, he set a price of $10,000, which he believed no one would pay. Leon Mantashev, son of oil magnate Alexander Mantashev, was willing to meet this price, and the painting was sold to him. Later in his life, Chabas said that he loved the painting, which some called his masterpiece. While Chabas said he supposed it was, he was certain that "in it is all that I know of painting". He stated that he had made no money from the many reproductions of the painting, although many others did. Chabas remarked that those who had profited from his work were not "thoughtful enough to send me even a box of cigars."

Paul E. CHABAS (1869-1937)

At M. Alphonse Lemerre's , c. 1895–1895

Oil on Canvas

338.5 x 277.5 cm. (133.3 x 109.3 in.)

Private collection

The garden of the former estate of Father Camille Corot, acquired by the Paris publisher Alphonse Lemerre, serves here as a backdrop for the painter Paul Chabas, who gathered French Parnassians in his painting.

Alongside Paul Bourget, we notice François Coppée , Leconte de Lisle , Marcel Prévost , Auguste Dorchain , Léon Dierx , Henri Cazalis , Alphonse Daudet , Sully-Prudhomme , Jules Breton , Paul Arène , André Theuriet , Jules Claretie , José-Maria de Heredia , Paul Hervieu , Henry Roujon , Georges Lafenestre , Alphonse Lemerre. More on this painting

Paul E. CHABAS (1869-1937)

Chez Alphonse Lemerre, à Ville-d'Avray

In the 1890s, Chabas illustrated books by such authors as Paul Bourget and Alfred de Musset. He also did some illustrating work for the French publisher Alphonse Lemerre. He became a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1921 and received the Légion d’honneur in 1928. From 1925 to 1935 he was president of the Société des Artistes Français. He died in Paris on May 10, 1937 after a long illness. Chabas died in a room where there was only one painting—a copy of September Morn which he had painted from memory.

Paul Emile Chabas (French, 1869–1937)

Naïades

Oil on canvas

61 x 66 cm. (24 x 26 in.)

Private collection

Paul Emile Chabas (French, 1869–1937)

Portrait de femme dénudée/ Portrait of naked woman

Oil on canvas

Private collection

During his lifetime, Paul Chabas was also a celebrated portrait painter. More on Paul Chabas

Paul Émile Chabas  (1869–1937)

Portrait of a lady with a red scarf/ Portrait d'une dame avec un foulard rouge

Oil on canvas

Height: 58 cm (22.8 in); Width: 74 cm (29.1 in)

Private collection

Paul Emile Chabas (French, 1869–1937)

Portrait d'une femme en noir/ Portrait of a woman in black

Oil on Canvas

123.2 x 82.5 cm. (48.5 x 32.5 in.)

Private collection

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