France, no export for unique evidence of Arts incohérents: they are national treasures

Nineteen recently discoveredworks constitute the only testimonies of the French Arts incohérents movement: founded by the editor-in-chief of Le Chat noir, Jules Lévy, in 1882, the movement was characterized by a strong satirical irreverence and was considered by André Breton as an anticipation of the twentieth-century avant-garde. Through caricatures, puns, and rebuses, generally in a parody tone, he also intended to point out through exhibitions (between 1882 and 1893) the crisis situation in which the annual Salon found itself, imitating some of its recurring aspects.

In the entire collection of these rediscovered works, two are particularly important: Combat de nègres pendant la nuit by playwright Paul Bilhaud (1854-1933), number 15 in the catalog of the first 1882 exhibition, and Des souteneurs, encore dans la force de l’âge et le ventre dans l’herbe, boivent de l’absinthe by Alphonse Allais (1854-1905). The former is completely black, so much so that it can be considered the first monochromatic pictorial work; the latter is a kind of ready-made prototype, designed some 20 years before those of Marcel Duchamp in the mid-1910s: it in fact elevates a banal manufactured object to a work of art, through an unusual title.

French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin announced her decision to recognize the group of works a national treasure and not to grant any export permits. A decision made at the suggestion of the Musée d’Orsay and after the opinion expressed by the commission in charge of national treasures. For thirty months, any request for export will be refused, thus allowing for a deeper knowledge of these works destined to enrich the national collections housed at the Musée d’Orsay.

Indeed, Roselyne Bachelot believes that they are evidence of an important stage in Paris and also little-known stage in the history of modern art, which emphasizes the role of a certain spirit based on humor and parody.

Pictured is an overview of the rediscovered works of the Arts Incohérents. Credit Galerie Johann Naldi

France, no export for unique evidence of Arts incohérents: they are national treasures

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