Victor Prouvé - Ambrosia

Sketch for the ceiling of the dining room of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris, between 1891 and 1892 Pen and black ink - Gilded wood frame An artist of joy and republican values of his time, a rock star of Art Nouveau, Victor Prouvé distinguished himself through his virtuoso technical versatility and his collaboration with the École de Nancy. Drawing inspiration from nature to imagine his works, his creations are adorned with plant motifs such as flowers, leaves, and insects. Victor Prouvé's works are characterized by curved and dynamic lines that exude a sense of movement and fluidity. Using bright, contrasting colors, this bold color palette brings a touch of modernity to his work. His original and elegant universe continues to inspire many contemporary decorators. The artist himself benefited from a solid artistic training, first at the municipal drawing school of Nancy, then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he was a student of Alexandre Cabanel. The Third Republic used art to spread its ideas and values – patriotism, renewed prosperity, history and its republican motto: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity – by calling for a vast policy of grand decorations. Thus, public buildings, such as town halls, were decorated with vast iconographic programs with an educational scope. By choosing spaces to decorate among the most symbolic of republican civic life: wedding halls, function rooms, and sometimes the staircases leading to them, the themes quickly became systematized. We find there the exaltation of family and work, history and commitment to Republican France, and the celebration of a regional identity through territorial industrial activity. The commissions gradually shaped a mixture of allegory and naturalism, thus creating a new secular gospel. To this end, the public authorities established competitions and commissions in 1878-79 to enlist French artists in this vast ambition. Victor Prouvé, master of Nancy Art Nouveau, thus, like his contemporaries, participated in it. This movement brought him recognition from his peers and ensured him a steady income. The artist received excellent results in the competition for the dining room of the Paris City Hall, as evidenced by our sketch Ambrosia, the third panel of a bucolic triptych composed of Fruits and Flowers (Ill. 1). Containing a poetry full of charm, the Arcadian compositions created by Prouvé nevertheless received contrasting criticism, oscillating between the rapture of the form and the immorality of the content. "Young men and women will see this as a legal authorization for flirting and mothers as an encouragement to destroy fruit trees," warned Louis Flandrin in the newspaper La Quinzaine in May 1897. The symbolic correlation between flirting and fruit picking refers, for the critic, to the founding sin of Adam and Eve, whereas Prouvé invites a different interpretation, that of "the poem of conjugal love and filial joys." Incredibly lively and modern, our beautiful sketch with its thrilling lines captivates with its vivacity, testifying to the joyful virtuosity of its creator. Victor PROUVÉ Ambrosia. Detail of the central panel, between 1891 and 1892. Oil on canvas. Coll. Petit Palais de la ville de Paris (PPP4451)