The experimental French label Tsuku Boshi and the musical duo NEBIIM have teamed up with the Musée du Luxembourg to provide an audio playlist to accompany the “Les Nabis et le décor” exhibition. Les Nabis were a group of French painters that included artists like Pierre Bonnard, Maurice Denis, and Edouard Vuillard. Active between 1888 and 1900, these young artists proposed a decorative style that would help transition painting from Symbolism and Impressionism into the more abstract forms of Modern Art.
Curated by Isabelle Cahn and Guy Cogeval, “Les Nabis et le décor” brings together a hundred paintings, drawings, prints and objets d’art from this influential group. Accompanying the exhibit is an audioguide as well as a playlist inspired by key works. Composed by the musical duo NEBIIM, they seem to take their name from the Hebrew translation of “Nabis.” Nebiim, which means “prophet,” was a term coined by the linguist Auguste Cazalis to describe this art movement’s bold new direction and future promise.
Inspired by Pierre Bonnard’s maxim “the painting must be mainly decorative,” NEBIIM’s 9 pieces offer complimentary sonic realms. Not so much imitative of the particular work each piece might take its name from, instead, the pair seeks to create a heightened audio experience rich in tonal and textural detail. Often animated by field recordings that suggest various bucolic as well as public spaces, the compositions also combine piercing timbres and eerie drones into highly suggestive but ultimately abstracted atmospheres.
The exhibition “Les Nabis et le décor” will run until June 30th of this year. In addition, on June 21st the Musée du Luxembourg will host a live event curated by Tsuku Boshi and the art collective Les Soir?es dessin?es.
