Die Maler des Heiligen Herzens / The Painters of the Sacred Heart

168 pages
Foreword by Udo Kittelmann and Frank Schmidt
Text(s) by Henrike Hans, Udo Kittelmann, Annabel Ruckdeschel
Graphic design by Benedikt Reichenbach
28.5 x 23 cm
Language: German, English
Hardback
Publisher: Hatje Cantz
2022

André Bauchant, Camille Bombois, Séraphine Louis, Henri Rousseau and Louis Vivin had no artistic training, yet the five painters have left a lasting mark on the Paris art scene of the early 20th century. Decisive for their discovery was their contact with German art dealer Wilhelm Uhde and his joint exhibition "The Painters of the Sacred Heart" in 1928 that brought together the stylistically diverse artworks of the self-taught artists. In their individual techniques and their motifs, often borrowed from nature or their immediate surroundings, he saw a unique emotionality, a radiating freshness and accessibility, which he felt was lacking in the theory-laden discourse of academically trained modernist artists.

Having since fallen into oblivion, this book is a joyful rediscovery of a chapter of art history that only recently has found new appreciation.