The Harvest of Buckwheat
1899
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
129.5 × 78.5 cm (51 × 30 7/8 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
235046
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The Harvest of Buckwheat demonstrates how Paul Sérusier’s interest in Japanese art influenced his painting. The simplified forms and asymmetrical composition are elements also found in Japanese prints, which circulated widely in France in the late 1800s. The vertical format, too, recalls the panels of Japanese wall hangings or screens. Sérusier shared an affinity for Japanese aesthetics with his fellow members of the Nabis, a group of artists whose name, coined by poet Henri Cazalis, comes from...
About the Artist
Paul Sérusier · 1864–1927
The painter first studied at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris, focusing on philosophy, then painting at the Académie Julian from 1885-1890. His painting of a Breton Weaver won an honorable mention at the Salon of 1888. He was the principal figure in the formation of the group known as the Nabis, in the same year. In 1896 he collaborated on masks and sets for the first performance of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu...