\paperw19995 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 French painter.\par
Raised in Paris by a family of modest circumstances, Edouard Vuillard frequented the AcadΘmie Julian in
1886, enrolling in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts the following year. Interested initially in the naturalism of the seventeenth-century Dutch painters, as well as in the scenes of interiors painted by Chardin, Vuillard was persuaded to join the Nabis group in
1889 by his friend, the painter Maurice Denis. Renouncing his natural interest in observation from life, Vuillard went on to develop a manner in which he painted from memory, using uniform and simplified areas of color derived from GauguinÆs painting an
d from Japanese prints. Vuillard chiefly depicted quiet scenes of family life, often set outdoors, alternating the activity of painting with that of drawing and engraving (\i La Causette\i0 , 1892, National Gallery, Edinburgh; \i Landscapes and Interiors
\i0 , Museum of Modern Art, New York). In 1894 Vuillard painted nine panels representing \i Public Gardens\i0 for the dining room of the hotel owned by Alexandre Natanson, inspired by his memories of frequent strolls in the cityÆs parks. In 1896 he rece
ived another important commission for the decoration of Henri VazquezÆs bookstore: the panels are now in the MusΘe du Petit Palais, Paris. At the beginning of the following century Vuillard devoted himself chiefly to painting landscapes, as is testified
by the series of pictures of the \i Streets of Paris\i0 (1908-10, Guggenheim collection, New York), and portraits, which proved popular with members of Parisian high society. Alongside these fashionable portraits, Vuillard painted pictures of his friends, su
ch as the painters Denis, Bonnard, Roussel and Maillol, executed between 1923 and 1937 (MusΘe du Petit Palais, Paris). Admired by his contemporaries, Vuillard was also commissioned to decorate public buildings, such as the foyer of the ComΘdie des Champs
-ElysΘes a Paris (1913) and designed costumes and scenes for the theater.
