Apple Tree with Red Fruit Paul Ranson Poster 20X30 Art Print

Apple Tree with Red Fruit ....
Pommes de Rouge ....
Paul Ranson

Paul Ranson March 29, 1864 – February 20, 1909

Ranson was a French Nabi painter and writer born in Limoges. He studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs there before moving to Paris and transferring to the Academie Julian in 1886. There he met Paul Serusier in 1888. Subsequently from 1890 he became a member and a creative leader of the Nabis group. They gathered at his studio in the Boulevarde du Montparnasse each Saturday. He was the one who introduced the Nabi language within the group.

Nabi means prophet in Hebrew and in Arabic.

Les Nabis originated as a rebellious group of young student artists who banded together at the Académie Julian. Paul Sérusier galvanized Les Nabis, and provided the name and disseminated the example of Paul Gauguin among them. Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis became the best known of the group; at the time, however, they were somewhat peripheral to the core group.

The term was coined by the poet Henri Cazalis who drew a parallel between the way these painters aimed to revitalize painting (as prophets of modern art) and the way the ancient prophets had rejuvenated Israel. Possibly the nickname arose because "most of them wore beards, some were Jews and all were desperately earnest".

Les Nabis regarded themselves as initiates, and used a private vocabulary. They called a studio ergasterium, and ended their letters with the initials E.T.P.M.V. et M.P., meaning "En ta paume, mon verbe et ma pensée" ("In the palm of your hand, my word and my thoughts.")

In 1908, he created the Academie Ranson with his wife Marie-France, to teach the Nabi ideas and techniques. After his death in Paris in 1909, his wife continued to run the academy.