Mystical symbolism: the Salon de la Rose Croix in Paris, 1892-1897

Abstract

'Mystical Symbolism : the Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892-1897' accompanies the first-ever museum presentation examining the Salon de la Rose+Croix (R+C), a series of annual exhibitions established by eccentric French author, critic, and Rosicrucian Joséphin Péladan. The R+C convened an international group of Symbolist artists around a shared refutation of Realist aesthetics and philosophy, frequently in favor of the Ideal. Among the participants were Pierre Amédée Marcel-Béronneau, Jean Delville, Fernand Khnopff, Charles Maurin, Armand Point, Alexandre Séon, and Félix Vallotton. Bound in red velvet with gold stamped lettering to conjure the sensorially evocative atmosphere of the Salons, the catalogue features essays about the history, themes, and often transcendent aims of the R+C (Greene), its reception by the press and the public in the 1890s (Jumeau-Lafond), and the importance of spiritualism to early 20th-century abstraction (Silver). This richly illustrated volume also contains 46 color plates, entries on each exhibited artist, and a bibliography of contemporary sources on Symbolist art.

Contents

The Salon de la Rose+Croix : the religion of art / Vivien Greene -- The reception of the Rose+Croix : a symptom of the 'réaction idéaliste' / Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond -- Afterlife : the important and sometimes embarrassing links between occultism and the development of abstract art, ca. 1909-13 / Kenneth E. Silver.