Maurice Chabas (21 September 1862,

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabit ...

– 11 December 1947,

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...

) was a French

Symbolist Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and real ...

painter.

Biography

Chabas came from a family of painters. Being the eldest child, he had to take over the family business, although he was interested in painting. His younger brothers, Maurice and Paul, were renowned painters. Chabas was a prolific artist, and debuted his work in 1885 at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ...

, where he would continue to present his works until 1913. Chabas was also a sensitive and often mystical artist and participated in many

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking i ...

meetings in the 1890s. His reputation spreads and by 1895, is the subject of an exhibition at a gallery in Paris. In 1900, Chabas moved to

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

, where his studio became a hub for scholars like

Camille Flammarion Nicolas Camille Flammarion Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, FRAS (; 26 February 1842 – 3 June 1925) was a French astronomer and author. He was a prolific author of more than fifty titles, including popular science works about astrono ...

Charles Richet Charles Robert Richet (25 August 1850 – 4 December 1935) was a French physiologist at the Collège de France known for his pioneering work in immunology. In 1913, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "in recognition of his work on ...

Maurice Maeterlinck Maurice Polydore Marie Bernard Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949), also known as Count (or Comte) Maeterlinck from 1932, was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was Flemish but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in ...

Léon Bloy Léon Bloy (; 11 July 1846 – 3 November 1917) was a French Catholic novelist, essayist, pamphleteer (or lampoonist), and satirist, known additionally for his eventual (and passionate) defense of Catholicism and for his influence within French C ...

, Lucien Lévy-Brulh,

Joséphin Péladan Joséphin Péladan (28 March 1858 in Lyon – 27 June 1918 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism. He established the ...

, Edouard Schuré, and

René Guénon René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as ''Abdalwâhid Yahiâ'' (; ''ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā'') was a French intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having writte ...

. Until he moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, Chabas was a little-known figure. That changed after 1900, when his popularity escalated. In 1910 he met the Belgian Gabrielle Storms-Castelot, and they had two children, the writer

André Castelot André Castelot, born André Storms (23 January 1911, Antwerp – 18 July 2004, Neuilly-sur-Seine), was a French writer and scriptwriter born in Belgium. He was the son of the Symbolist painter Maurice Chabas and Gabrielle Storms-Castelot (né ...

and the actor

Jacques Castelot Jacques Castelot (born Jacques Marie Paul Éloi Storms) (11 July 1914 – 25 August 1989) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1938 and 1982. His brother was the writer André Castelot and their father was the ...

. In 1917, he became a member of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century C ...

, although he also maintained friendships with leading Roman Catholic intellectuals such as novelist

François Mauriac François Charles Mauriac (, oc, Francés Carles Mauriac; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the'' Académie française'' (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Prize ...

. In the last years of his life, Chabas mostly cultivated his personal mysticism and lived as a recluse. He died in solitude in his Versailles home on December 11, 1947.Myriam de Palma,''Maurice Chabas (1862-1947), peintre et messager spirituel'', Paris: Somogy 2009, 11-20.

Gallery

File:Maurice Chabas - Néméa 1894.jpg, ''Néméa'', 1894 File:Maurice Chabas - L'Apparition.jpg, ''L'Apparition'', circa 1900 File:Maurice Chabas - L'Élegante dans l'Atelier.jpg, ''L'Élegante dans l'Atelier'', circa 1900 File:Maurice Chabas - Return to Cythera.jpg, ''Return to Cythera'', circa 1900 File:Maurice Chabas - Reverie au Bord du Lac.jpg, ''Reverie au Bord du Lac'', circa 1900 File:Maurice Chabas - Two Women in a Park.jpg, ''Two Women in a Park'', circa 1900 File:Maurice Chabas La chaste Suzanne.jpg, ''La chaste Suzanne'', 1903 File:M. Chabas, Pins de Kerdruc.jpg, circa 1905

References

19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French Symbolist painters 1862 births 1947 deaths 19th-century French male artists {{France-painter-19thC-stub