Press Kit

8 march
18 june 2023

NEO- 1 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

ROMANTICS 1926-1972
PRESS RELEASE
January 2023
NEO-
ROMANTICS
CURATOR
Patrick Mauriès,
art critic and historian
1926-1972
2 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

Sir Francis Rose

The Musée Marmottan Monet presents from March 8 to June 18, 2023, the exhibition
L’Ensemble 1938 « The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972». Nearly one hundred works from private and public
Huile sur toile 200,5 x 350,5 cm
Londres, England & Co collections will be brought together to (re)discover one of the first post-modern
© Estate of Sir Francis Rose/pho-
tograph © England & Co
movements based on the questioning of abstraction and the return to the figure.
Curated by Patrick Mauriès, the exhibition will honor the artists who participated in
this movement, such as the French Christian Berard (1902-1949), the Russians Pavel
Chelitchew (1898-1957), Eugene (1899-1972) and Leonid Berman (1898-1976) and the
Dutch Kristians Tonny (1907-1977). First gathered in Paris in the 1920s, they participated
in the American, English and Italian art scene, creating bridges between Picasso,
surrealism, the figurative artists of the twentieth century and the living arts for which
they created memorable shows.
 Press Kit
In February 1926, an exhibition at the Galerie Druet in Paris created a sensation in
the art and fashion world. It presented a group of young painters who observed the
dissipation of modernist abstraction and decided to return to a new form of figurative
art. It is possible to consider this as the first postmodernist movement in the history
of art. They included Christian Bérard and Thérèse Debains (1897-1975), both French;
Kristians Tonny Russians Pavel Tchelitchew, Eugene and Leonid Berman; and Dutchman Kristians Tonny.
Autoportrait
s.d. Huile sur toile
Art critic Waldemar George immediately grasped the importance of this exhibition and
95 x 75 cm dubbed the artists the “Neo-Romantics” or the “Neo-Humanists.” Ten years later, James
Collection particulière
© studio Christian Baraja SLB Thrall Soby, a major American modern art collector, published a seminal work, the only

3 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

 Press Kit
Kristians Tonny
D’après Van Eyck (Gertrude Stein)
1930-1936
Encre noire sur tempera sur Manosite collée sur carton
61 x 45,4 cm
Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, The Ella
Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund
@ Allen Phillips / Wadsworth Atheneum

book to date on this group, After Picasso—a

significant title as it placed front and center
the tremendous influence and towering
figure of Picasso (notably his Blue and Rose
periods) and the ambition (or impossibility)
of moving past him, to forge new paths. A
more accurate characterization would be to
call them “Neo-Mannerists,” as suggested by
André Chastel, who draws a parallel with the
difficulties painters had to overcome in the
face of the overwhelming legacy of Leonardo
da Vinci and Michelangelo. Although they
were friends, these artists did not create a
formal movement and went on to pursue
different paths, primarily because of World
War II. While Bérard remained in Paris, where
he died prematurely, the Berman brothers
and Tchelitchew traveled to the United States,
where they remained for many years before
returning to Europe—notably to Rome, where
Tchelitchew and Eugene Berman finished 4 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972
their careers.
With its decidedly cosmopolitan outlook,
“Neo-Romantism” also involved such
diverse figures as Gertrude Stein (who wrote
about it in The Autobiography of Alice B.
Toklas), Alfred Barr, Lincoln Kirstein, George
Balanchine, the musician Virgil Thompson, Chick Austin of the Wadsworth Atheneum,
George Platt Lynes, Joseph Cornell and the gallerist Julian Levy in the Unites States;
and in England, Edward James, Cyril Connolly, Edith Sitwell, Cecil Beaton, Peter Watson,
as well as two newcomers, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon. Berman and Tchelitchew
were also important figures on the Italian art scene in the 1960s, rediscovering Chirico,
who had been a major artist in their early years, and his brother Alberto Savinio. Finally,
as members of fashionable society at the time, these painters were also linked to such
notable figures as Christian Dior (who organized their second exhibition), Marie Laure
de Noailles, Marie Blanche de Polignac (Jeanne Lanvin’s daughter), Elsa Schiaparelli and
Helena Rubinstein (whose apartment on Île Saint-Louis was decorated by Tchelitchew).
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Eugène Berman
Scène de la Vie des Bohémiens
1936 Huile sur panneau 124,5 x 151,8 cm
Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
@ Allen Phillips / Wadsworth Atheneum

Marginal in appearance only, this little-

known chapter in the history of modern art
not only connects Picasso, Surrealism and
the major figurative painters of the twentieth
century (which also includes Balthus)—but
also different art forms, including painting, 5 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972
opera and ballet, for which they produced
memorable shows.

Pavel Tchelitchew
Interior Landscape
1947 Huile sur toile 80,6 x 65,4 cm
New-York, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
@ Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC
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PRESS VISUALS

Christian Bérard Christian Bérard

Deux autoportraits sur la plage Portrait d’une femme (Hélène Anavi)
1933 1948
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
79 x 114 cm 60 x 50 cm
Collection particulière Collection particulière
© studio Christian Baraja SLB © studio Christian Baraja SLB

6 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

Christian Bérard et Jean-Michel Frank

Paravent à quatre feuilles réalisé pour l’appartement de
Claire Artaud
1936
Huile sur toile, bois moulé doré
105 x 212 cm
Paris, Alexandre Biaggi
© Francis Amiand
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Eugène Berman Eugène Berman
Dormeurs près de statue et campanile Scène de la Vie des Bohémiens
1932 1936
Huile sur toile Huile sur panneau
92,1 x 73 cm 124,5 x 151,8 cm
Collection de Georgy et Tatiana Khatsenkov Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art
© Maxime Melnikov @ Allen Phillips / Wadsworth Atheneum

7 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

Eugène Berman Eugène Berman

À la recherche des nuages évanouis Sunset (Medusa)
1940 1945
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
59 x 72 cm 146.4 x 114.3 cm
Paris, Alexandre Biaggi Gift of the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest) in
© Francis Amiand honor of Beth Cummings Paschal, G.74.8.2
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art
© Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art
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Eugène Berman Léonide Berman
Médusa Malamocco, Lagune Vénitienne
1968 1948
Huile sur toile Huile sur toile
30 x 40 cm 91,5 x 71 cm
Collection particulière Collection de Georgy et Tatiana Khatsenkov
© studio Christian Baraja SLB © Maxime Melnikov

8 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

Thérèse Debains Thérèse Debains

Portrait de jeune femme (Autoportrait ?) Portrait de jeune garçon
vers 1948 s. d.
Huile sur panneau Huile sur panneau
48 x 38 cm 58 x 50
Collection particulière Collection particulière
© studio Christian Baraja SLB © Photo François Fernandez Nice ADAGP 2022
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Sir Francis Rose Sir Francis Rose
L’ange et le prince L’Ensemble
1932 11938
Huile sur isorel Huile sur toile
114 x 88, 5 x 5 cm (avec cadre) 200,5 x 350,5 cm
Collection particulière Londres, England & Co
© studio Christian Baraja SLB © Estate of Sir Francis Rose/photograph © England & Co

9 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

Alexandre Serebriakoff Pavel Tchelitchew

Intérieur, Le vestibule – Rue Casimir Delavign Nu
1947 1926
Aquarelle, crayon graphite et encre noire et brune rehaussé de Huile, sable et café sur toile
gouache sur papier vélin 99,5 x 64 cm
33,6 x 45,1 cm Collection de Georgy et Tatiana Khatsenkov
Monaco, Nouveau musée National Monaco © Maxime Melnikov
© NMNM / Marcel Loli
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Pavel Tchelitchew Kristians Tonny
Interior Landscape D’après Van Eyck (Gertrude Stein)
1947 1930-1936
Huile sur toile Encre noire sur tempera sur Manosite collée sur carton
80,6 x 65,4 cm 61 x 45,4 cm
New-York, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery Hartford, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, The Ella Gallup Sumner
@ Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund
@ Allen Phillips / Wadsworth Atheneum

10 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972

Kristians Tonny
Autoportrait
s.d.
Huile sur toile
95 x 75 cm
Collection particulière
© studio Christian Baraja SLB
 Communiqué de presse
PRESS CONTACT
Claudine Colin Communication
T. +33 (0)1 42 72 60 01
Christelle Maureau
[email protected]
T. 06 45 71 58 92

11 ­— Musée Marmottan Monet ­— The Neo-Romantics 1926-1972