La Course à l’abîme by Georges de Feure

Georges de Feure
1868-1943 | Dutch & French

La Course à l'abîme
(The Race to the Abyss)

Signed "de Feure" (lower left)
Gouache on paper

Georges de Feure was a luminary figure in the Symbolist and Art Nouveau movements whose unique works captivated audiences for their romantic forms, sweeping floral motifs, exuberant colors and inspired designs. De Feure’s works were deeply influenced by the aesthetics of his mentor master of Belle Epoque poster artist Jules Chéret, the modernist poetry of Charles Baudelaire and the visionary ideas of Siegfried Bing. Throughout his prime, de Feure’s name was inextricably linked with the avant-garde currents of Symbolism and Art Nouveau, the color lithographic revolution in printmaking and the Poster Movement and Japonism. De Feure’s talents extended beyond painting. He also specialized in theatrical design, interiors, and industrial art and designed posters for Follies-Bergere and Le Chat Noir Cabaret. De Feure’s works were preoccupied with several recurring themes, namely, the exploration of the femme fatale and sapphic love, and he was heavily influenced by the Decadent aesthetics of the time.

One of de Feure's most striking works, La Course à l'abîme renders two enigmatic and ethereal female nudes amongst a profusion of luxuriant plant forms, creating an inviting sensual atmosphere. Punctuated by a riotous tangle of vegetation overwhelming most of the painting’s surface, this work underscores de Feure's fascination with sapphic love and the femme fatale. Leading de Feure scholar Ian Millman describes La Course à l'abîme as “a magnificent summary of his view of humanity and the natural world,” and further noted that de Feure selected the work to be the centerpiece of his exhibition at the Galerie des Artistes modernes. De Feure’s extensive body of work was the subject of a seminal retrospective at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 1993 and La Course à l'abîme was heavily featured in this important exhibition’s accompanying catalogue.

Born Georges Joseph van Sluijte to Dutch and Belgian parents in France, de Feure spent his childhood in the Netherlands. When he returned to Paris in 1890 to study under the esteemed Jules Chéret, he quickly adopted the new moniker George de Feure and began an illustrious career as a poster and theater artisan, interior designer and fine artist. He also created drawings for magazines like Le Courrier français and illustrated several books. De Feure's innovative furniture designs, often referred to as "Modern Style," also gained recognition, and he taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

A testament to de Feure’s importance to the Art Nouveau movement, Siegfried Bing entrusted de Feure to create the facade of the "Pavilion of Art Nouveau" at the 1900 Exhibition Universelle in Paris. All accolades aside, de Feure’s fine artworks remain his most exceptional and inspired contributions to the movements for which he is synonymous. De Feure’s work is represented in the collections of several major museums including the Musée d’Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has been exhibited in several exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Circa 1893-94

Paper: 31 7/8" high by 37 3/8” wide
Framed: 37 3/8" high by 43” wide

References:
Georges de Feure: maître du symbolisme et de l'art nouveau, Paris, 1992, by Ian Millman, Page 57
Georges de Feure 1868-1943 (19th-century Masters), Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, 1993, by Ian Millman, Page 13, no. 12

Provenance:
Private Collection
Private Collection, Paris
M.S. Rau, New Orleans