Life Becomes Precious, Discreet, plate eleven from Love Possibly 1898 - 1899

Curator: I find myself drawn into the serene atmosphere of Maurice Denis' lithograph, “Life Becomes Precious, Discreet, plate eleven from Love," created circa 1898-1899. It's currently residing here at the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: The pervasive delicacy of the watercolor medium is the immediate takeaway. The pastels produce an ephemeral sense of fleeting intimacy, as though one were seeing this apparition through gauze. Curator: Absolutely, the figure is shrouded in an aura of near-transparency, invoking something akin to spiritual grace. Look at the lilium candidum at her shoulder—a classic symbol of purity, hope, and, of course, the Virgin Mary. Editor: And yet, consider the process of printmaking involved here. It required repeated labor to create these wispy forms. Are we meant to understand the fleeting glimpse of feminine virtue to have emerged only via deliberate social constructs? Curator: Intimism does embrace ambiguity, but perhaps that tension is intentional! The home and garden act as both a sanctuary and a space molded by cultural expectations. She stands on a precipice between these realms. Editor: Also, let’s not ignore the materiality. The textured paper itself becomes almost as expressive as the figure rendered upon it, inviting questions around both artistic value and how our intimate experience with materials influences what we might take away. Curator: Indeed, it's almost as if the landscape, rendered in equally delicate colors, mirrors her emotional landscape. Denis was part of Les Nabis; their entire aim was imbuing the everyday with layers of emotional and spiritual resonance through their choice of common scenes of contemporary living. Editor: So, how does the print format influence or subvert such an aim, I wonder? Is the idea of readily reproducible virtue itself a subtle commentary? Curator: The intimacy here, rendered for distribution, allows an extended meditation beyond that of mere, personal reflection. It reframes virtue for societal pondering. Editor: A society made of paper and ink... Curator: It makes one think. I leave here, at least, pondering on how meaning deepens through layers of symbolism. Editor: And, conversely, on how readily art objects become intertwined with processes of daily manufacture. A potent combination to have been left with, here.