Salon des Cent

Salon des Cent The Salon des Cent was a Parisian exhibition and publishing venue associated with the Belle Époque, Art Nouveau and the Montmartre and Montparnasse artistic milieus, notable for promoting poster art, graphic design and progressive print culture. Founded by the commercial magazine La Plume and linked to figures from the Symbolism and Decadent movement, it provided exhibition space and a series of illustrated publications that engaged artists connected to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha and Pierre Bonnard as well as younger practitioners tied to Les Nabis and the emerging Modernism currents. Its activities intersected with contemporary institutions such as the Salon des Indépendants, the Société des Artistes Français and the Galerie Durand-Ruel while conversing with critics like Joris-Karl Huysmans and collectors including Théodore Duret.

History

The Salon originated in the editorial offices of La Plume under the direction of editors associated with the Symbolist network and the weekly’s connections to publishers such as Jules Chéret and printers like Eugène Grasset, and it debuted during the same moment that posters by Jules Chéret, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha and Théophile Alexandre Steinlen were transforming Parisian streetscapes. Early shows corresponded with the rise of venues like the Café-concert and were timed alongside cultural events at the Exposition Universelle (1900), fairs at the Grand Palais and salon seasons dominated by the Académie Julian and the traditional Salon. Throughout the 1890s the Salon’s programming reflected tensions between the established Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts and avant-garde groups such as the Section d'Or and the Society of Independent Artists, and it adapted as participants moved between galleries like the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune and periodicals including Le Courrier français.

Organization and Membership

Organized by the proprietors and editors of La Plume and staffed by contributors from the Symbolist press, the Salon drew a membership that included poster artists, illustrators and painters affiliated with Les Nabis, Salon des Indépendants exhibitors and decorative artists connected to Liberty & Co. and the Mucha circle. Notable contributors exhibited alongside names associated with Paul Gauguin, Édouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis, Émile Bernard, Odilon Redon and Georges Seurat, with participation from younger figures related to Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and the emerging Fauvism scene. The management negotiated with printers and publishers such as Léon Deschamps and maintained relations with galleries including Galerie Georges Petit and dealers like Ambroise Vollard, while critics from Le Figaro and Gil Blas reported on openings.

Exhibitions and Publications

Exhibitions featured large-format lithographic posters, portfolios and solo shows that paralleled the output of Alphonse Mucha, Jules Chéret, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Théophile Steinlen and Eugène Grasset, and the Salon issued printed matter that included portfolios, bound albums and the magazine’s special numbers similar to projects by La Revue Blanche and L’Ermitage. The venue produced illustrated catalogues and multiples that engaged printers experienced with techniques used by Auguste Lepère, Léon Bakst and Paul Signac, and it displayed works alongside publications by Émile Zola, Stéphane Mallarmé, Joris-Karl Huysmans and contributors from Le Figaro Littéraire. Guest exhibitions and retrospective displays linked the Salon to the output of Gustave Moreau, Alexandre Cabanel and historic collectors like Albert Besnard, while collaborative projects involved book designers akin to Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard for deluxe editions.

Artistic Style and Influence

The Salon’s visual program foregrounded the decorative aesthetics of Art Nouveau with its sinuous lines and floral motifs as practiced by Alphonse Mucha, Eugène Grasset, Maurice Denis and Jules Chéret, but it also hosted work informed by the color theories of Paul Signac, the graphic economy of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the poetic symbolism of Odilon Redon and Gustave Moreau. Its poster and print culture anticipated later developments in graphic design promoted in journals like The Studio and influenced commercial art markets patronized by collectors such as Théodore Duret and dealers like Ambroise Vollard, helping legitimize prints and posters alongside paintings sold at houses like Galerie Durand-Ruel. The Salon’s eclectic mix created an environment in which decorative artists intersected with avant-garde painters related to Les Nabis, Fauvism and early Cubism, prefiguring dialogues later formalized at exhibitions such as those of the Salon d'Automne.

Reception and Legacy

Contemporary responses recorded in periodicals including La Revue Blanche, Le Figaro and Gil Blas ranged from praise by advocates of Art Nouveau such as Joris-Karl Huysmans to skepticism from traditionalist critics aligned with the Académie des Beaux-Arts and conservative reviewers at the Journal des Débats. The Salon’s championing of posters and prints contributed to the institutional recognition of graphic art in museums like the Musée du Luxembourg and influenced collectors and curators at institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Its legacy persisted in the careers of artists who moved between commercial and fine art worlds—figures tied to Alphonse Mucha, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Théophile Steinlen, Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard—and in the formal and commercial shifts that informed exhibitions at later venues including the Salon d'Automne and the Salon des Indépendants, as well as in the development of European poster art into the twentieth century.

Category:Art exhibitions in Paris