Paul Sérusier: The Bois d'Amour à Pont-Aven: The Talisman (Le Talisman), 1888, oil on wood, 27 x 21,5 cm Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Les Nabis (pronounced nah-BEE) were a group of Post-Impressionist avant-garde artists who set the pace for fine arts and graphic arts in France in the 1890s. Initially a group of friends interested in contemporary art and literature, most of them studied at the private art school of Rodolphe Julian (Académie Julian) in Paris in the late 1880s.

In 1890, they began to successfully participate in public exhibitions, while most of their artistic output remained in private hands or in the possession of the artists themselves. By 1896, the unity of the group had already begun to break: The Hommage à Cézanne, painted by Maurice Denis in 1900, recollects memories of a time already gone, before even the term Nabis had been revealed to the public. Meanwhile, most members of the group—Maurice Denis, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard—could stand, artistically, on their own. Only Paul Sérusier had problems to overcome—though it was his Talisman, painted at the advice of Paul Gauguin, that had revealed to them the way to go.

Origin of the term[link]

Nabi means prophet^[1] 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.^[2] Possibly the nickname arose because "most of them wore beards, some were Jews and all were desperately earnest".^[3]

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.")

Influence[link]

Meeting at Académie Julian, and then at the apartment of Paul Ranson, they preached that a work of art is the end product and the visual expression of an artist's synthesis of nature in personal aesthetic metaphors and symbols. They paved the way for the early 20th century development of abstract and non-representational art. The goal of integrating art and daily life, was a goal they had in common with most progressive artists of the time.

Style[link]

Les Nabis artists worked in a variety of media, using oils on both canvas and cardboard, distemper on canvas and wall decoration, and also produced posters, prints, book illustration, textiles and furniture. Considered to be on the cutting edge of modern art during their early period, their subject matter was representational (though often symbolist in inspiration), but was design oriented along the lines of the Japanese prints they so admired, and art nouveau. Unlike those types however, the artists of this circle were highly influenced by the paintings of the impressionists, and thus while sharing the flatness, page layout and negative space of art nouveau and other decorative modes, much of Nabis art has a painterly, non-realistic look, with color palettes often reminding one of Cézanne and Gauguin. Bonnard's posters and lithographs are more firmly in the art nouveau, or Toulouse-Lautrec manner. After the turn of the century, as modern art moved towards abstraction, expressionism, cubism, etc., the Nabis were viewed as conservatives, and indeed were among the last group of artists to stick to the roots and artistic ambitions of the impressionists, pursuing these ends almost into the middle of the 20th century. In their later years, these painters also largely abandoned their earlier interests in decorative and applied arts.

Members of the Nabis group and associated artists[link]

Paul Ranson, Paul Sérusier, and Marie-France Ranson in Paul Ranson's studio, c. 1900

Among the artists who considered themselves Nabis was Maurice Denis, whose journalism put the aims of the group in the eye of a progressive audience, and whose definition of painting — "a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order" — expressed the Nabis approach. His Théories (1920; 1922) summed up the Nabis' aims long after they had been superseded by the fauve painters and by cubism.

Other Nabis were Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, Ker-Xavier Roussel, Paul Ranson and Félix Vallotton. The sculptor Aristide Maillol was associated for a time with the group. The post-Impressionist styles they embraced skirted some aspects of contemporary art nouveau and Symbolism. The influence of the English Arts and Crafts Movement set them to work in media that involved crafts beyond painting: printmaking, book illustration and poster design, textiles and set design.

• Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947), le Nabi très japonard
• Maurice Denis (1870-1943), le Nabi der schönen Ikonen
• Maxime Dethomas (1869-1929)
• Meyer de Haan (1852-1895), Nabi hollandais
• Rene Georges Hermann-Paul (1864-1940)
• Henri-Gabriel Ibels (1867-1936),
• Georges Lacombe (1868-1916), le Nabi sculpteur
• Aurélien Lugné-Poë (1869—1940)
• Aristide Maillol (1861-1944)
• Paul Ranson (1864-1909), le Nabi plus japonard que le Nabi japonard
• József Rippl-Rónai (1861-1927)
• Ker-Xavier Roussel (1867-1944)
• Paul Sérusier (1864-1927), le Nabi à la barbe rutilante
• Félix Vallotton (1865-1925)
• Jan Verkade (1868-1946), le Nabi obéliscal
• Edouard Vuillard (1868-1940)

Gallery[link]

• Bonnard-the dining room in the country.jpg

  Pierre Bonnard, The Dining Room in the Country, 1913, Collection Minneapolis Institute of Arts

• 

  Edouard Vuillard, Self-portrait, 1889

• Bonnard74.JPG

  Pierre Bonnard, Self-portrait, c. 1889

• 

  Meyer de Haan, Maternity: Mary Henry Breastfeeding, 1890.

• 

  Félix Vallotton, The Mistress and the Servant, 1896

• 

  Paul Ranson, Nabis Landscape, 1890

• 

  Georges Lacombe, Marine bleue, Effet de vagues, 1893

• 

  Georges Lacombe, Portrait of Paul Sérusier, 1894

• 

  Paul Sérusier, Boys on a Riverbank, 1906

See also[link]

• Pont-Aven School
• Henry Lerolle, patron
• Odilon Redon

Resources[link]

Notes[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Patricia Eckert Boyer, The Nabis and the Parisian Avant-Garde, Rytgers Univ Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8135-1380-4 & ISBN 978-0-8135-1380-5
• Charles Chasse, The Nabis and Their Period, London: Lund Humphries, 1969, ASIN B001387EYI
• Russell T. Clement, Four French Symbolists: A Sourcebook on Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Maurice Denis, Greenwood Press, 1996, ISBN 0-313-29752-5 & ISBN 978-0-313-29752-6
• Bernard Dorival, Les Peintres Du Vingtieme Sicle; Nabis, Fauves, Cubistes, Paris: Editions Pierre Tisne, 1957, ASIN B000PT18NY
• Claire Freches-Thory and Antoine Terrasse, Nabis: Bonnard, Vuillard and Their Circle, London: Flammarion, 2003, ISBN 2-08-011076-4 & ISBN 978-2-08-011076-3
• Albert Kostenevitch, Bonnard: and the Nabis, London: Parkstone Press, ISBN 1-85995-015-9 & ISBN 978-1-85995-015-9

External links[link]

• The Prophets of Montmartre Ashe Journal article on Les Nabis by Alamantra.

Coin of Nabis of Sparta claiming to be king; legend reads ΒΑΙΛΕΟΣ (Doric Greek for βασιλέως, genitive of βασιλεύς) and ΝΑΒΙΟΣ (Νάβιος is Doric Greek for Νάβιδος, genitive of Νάβις)^[1]

Nabis (Ancient Greek: Νάβις) was ruler of Sparta from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the War against Nabis. After taking the throne by executing two claimants, he began rebuilding Sparta's power. During the Second Macedonian War, he sided with King Philip V of Macedon and in return he received the city of Argos. However, when the war began to turn against the Macedonians, he defected to Rome. After the war, the Romans urged by the Achaean League attacked Nabis and defeated him in the War against Nabis. He was assassinated in 192 BC by the Aetolian League and was Sparta's last independent ruler. He represented the last phase of Sparta's reformist period.

Ruler of Sparta[link]

In the years following the defeat of the reformist king Cleomenes III of Sparta at the Battle of Sellasia (222 BC), Sparta experienced a power vacuum that eventually led to the Spartan kingship being bestowed on a child, Pelops, for whom first Machanidas (d. 207 BC) and then Nabis acted as regents. Nabis, however, soon overthrew Pelops, claiming to be a descendent of the Eurypontid king Demaratus.^[2] Although Nabis styled himself as king and is called basileus on his coins,^[3] Livy and Polybius refer to him as a tyrant.

Nabis was committed to the reformist program of Cleomenes III and took it to extreme lengths, exiling the wealthy and dividing up their estates.^[4] He freed many slaves and made them citizens, but left the institution of helotry in place as part of the Lycurgan system which he was claiming to restore.^[5] The increased citizen body, however, meant that Nabis had more citizen troops for his army, which also included numerous mercenaries. Polybius, who was deeply hostile to Nabis' revolutionary program, described his supporters as "a crowd of murderers, burglars, cutpurses and highwaymen" (ἀνδροφόνοι καὶ παρασχίσται, λωποδύται, τοιχωρύχοι).^[6]

Nabis executed the last descendants of the two Spartan royal dynasties; and the ancient sources, especially Polybius and Livy, depict him as a bloodthirsty ruler who held power through armed force and shocking brutality. Polybius (13.6-7) claims that he would frequently exile the leading citizens of conquered communities and marry their wives to the brigands and freed slaves under his command. Polybius (13.6) in an account that either demonstrates the extent of Nabis's tyranny or Polybius's bias, tells how wealthy landowners were often summoned into his presence and forced to pay him large sums of money - those who refused were tortured, supposedly through use of a machine that resembled an Iron Maiden,^[7] known as the Apega of Nabis, made after his own wife Queen Apega.

Foreign policy[link]

In foreign policy, Nabis pursued much the same policy as his predecessors: opposing the Achaean League and Macedonia by allying himself with the Aetolians, Elis, and Messene.^[8] This led him into an alliance with Rome during the First Macedonian War, signing a peace treaty with Rome in 205 at the Peace of Phoenice .^[9][10]

In the following years, Nabis expanded Spartan power, reconquering much of Laconia and Messene. In 204 BC, he unsuccessfully attacked Megalopolis.^[11] He also re-established a fleet (apparently with the help of Cretan allies, whom Polybius describes as "pirates",^[12][13] and used it to re-establish control of the Laconian coastline. He also fortified the city of Sparta for the first time. (Previously, the Spartans had viewed their city's defence as depending on the bravery of their hoplites.)

In 201 BC he invaded the territory of Messene, which had been an ally of Sparta in the previous decades,^[8][14] apparently an attempt to re-establish the control which Sparta had had over the region until the mid 4th century BC. Messene fell to Nabis, but the Spartans were forced to retreat when the army of Philopoemen intervened. Nabis' forces were decisively defeated at Tegea and he was forced to check his expansionist ambitions for the time.^[8][15]

Nabis' territorial ambitions brought him into conflict with the Achaean League, which controlled the northern half of the Peloponnese. Although repeatedly defeated by the gifted Achaean strategos Philopoemen, he nevertheless remained a serious threat to the Achaeans, who were considerably less successful against him when led by less competent generals. In 200 BC, alarmed at the ease with which he was ravaging their territory, the Achaeans asked the Macedonian King Philip V for help, which he did not provide. In the following years, Nabis was able to skillfully exploit the conflict between Philip and the Romans, gaining control of the important city of Argos as the price of his alliance with the Macedonians, and then defecting to the soon to be victorious Romans so that he might hold on to his conquest.

War with Rome[link]

In 195 BC, however, the Roman Proconsul Titus Quinctius Flamininus was persuaded by the Achaeans that the power of Nabis in the Peloponnese needed to be checked.^[16] Flamininus ordered Nabis to give Argos back to the Achaeans, or face war with Rome.^[17] When Nabis refused, citing the Roman acceptance of his friendship at a time when he had already been in possession of the city as justification, Flamininus invaded Laconia.^[17] After an inconclusive campaign the Spartans were defeated, and Nabis was forced to surrender both Argos and the port of Gytheum, which gave him access to the sea.^[18][19]

Recovery and death[link]

Though the territory under his control now consisted only of the city of Sparta and its immediate environs, Nabis still hoped to regain his former power. In 192 BC, seeing that the Romans and their Achaean allies were distracted by the imminent war with King Antiochus III of Syria and the Aetolian League, Nabis attempted to recapture Gytheum and the Laconian coastline.^[20] Initially, he was successful, capturing the port and defeating the Achaean League in a minor naval battle.^[20]

Soon after, however, his army was routed by Philopoemen and shut up within the walls of Sparta. After ravaging the surrounding countryside, Philopoemen returned home.^[20] Within a few months, Nabis appealed to the Aetolian League to send troops so that he might protect his territory against the Romans and the Achaean League.^[20]

The Aetolians responded by sending an army of 1,000 infantry and 300 cavalry to Sparta.^[21] Once there, however, the Aetolians betrayed the tyrant, assassinating him while he was drilling his army outside the city.^[21] The Aetolians then attempted to take control of the city, but were prevented from doing so by an uprising of the citizens.^[21]

The Achaeans, seeking to take advantage of the ensuing chaos, dispatched Philopoemen to Sparta with a large army. Once there, he compelled the Spartans to join the Achaean League.^[22] Nabis had thus been the last leader of an independent Sparta, and the last ruler under whom the Spartans had been a major power in Greece.

Citations[link]

Sources[link]

Primary sources[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nabis of Sparta

• Livy, translated by Henry Bettison, (1976). Rome and the Mediterranean. London: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044318-5.
• Polybius, translated by Frank W. Walbank, (1979). The Rise of the Roman Empire. New York: Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044362-2.

Secondary sources[link]

• Paul Cartledge and Antony Spawforth, (2002). Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: A tale of two cities. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-26277-1
• Maurice Holleaux, (1930). Cambridge Ancient History: Rome and the Mediterranean; 218-133 B.C., (1st edition) Vol VIII. Los Angeles: Cambridge University Press.
• Jones, A.H.M. (1967). Sparta. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• William Smith, (1873). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: John Murray.

v t e Kings of Laconia and Sparta Lelegids Lelex · Myles · Eurotas Lacedaemonids Lacedaemon · Amyclas · Argalus · Cynortas · Perieres · Oebalus · Tyndareus · Hippocoon Atreids Menelaus · Orestes · Tisamenus · Dion Early Heraclids Aristodemus · Theras (regent) Heraclids Agiad dynasty Eurysthenes · Agis I · Echestratus · Labotas · Doryssus · Agesilaus I · Archelaus · Teleclus · Alcmenes · Polydorus · Eurycrates · Anaxander · Eurycratides · Leon · Anaxandridas II · Cleomenes I · Leonidas I · Pleistarchus · Pleistoanax · Pausanias · Agesipolis I · Cleombrotus I · Agesipolis II · Cleomenes II · Areus I · Acrotatus II · Areus II · Leonidas II · Cleombrotus II · Cleomenes III · Agesipolis III Heraclids Eurypontid dynasty Procles · Soos · Eurypon · Prytanis · Polydectes · Eunomus · Charilaus · Nicander · Theopompus · Anaxandridas I · Zeuxidamus · Anaxidamus · Archidamus I · Agasicles · Ariston · Demaratus · Leotychidas · Archidamus II · Agis II · Agesilaus II · Archidamus III · Agis III · Eudamidas I · Archidamus IV · Eudamidas II · Agis IV · Eudamidas III · Archidamus V · Eucleidas · Lycurgus · Pelops Later rulers Machanidas · Nabis · Laconicus

Pierre Bonnard (3 October 1867 – 23 January 1947) was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.

Biography[link]

Bonnard was born in Fontenay-aux-Roses, Hauts-de-Seine. He led a happy and carefree youth as the son of a prominent official of the French Ministry of War. At the insistence of his father, Bonnard studied law, graduating and practising as a barrister briefly. However, he had also attended art classes on the side, and soon decided to become an artist.

In 1891 he met Toulouse-Lautrec and began showing his work at the annual exhibition of the Société des Artistes Indépendants. His first show was at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1896.

In his twenties he was a part of Les Nabis, a group of young artists committed to creating work of symbolic and spiritual nature. Other Nabis include Édouard Vuillard and Maurice Denis. He left Paris in 1910 for the south of France.

Bonnard is known for his intense use of color, especially via areas built with small brushmarks and close values. His often complex compositions—typically of sunlit interiors of rooms and gardens populated with friends and family members—are both narrative and autobiographical. His wife Marthe was an ever-present subject over the course of several decades. She is seen seated at the kitchen table, with the remnants of a meal; or nude, as in a series of paintings where she reclines in the bathtub. He also painted several self-portraits, landscapes, and many still lifes which usually depict flowers and fruit.

Bonnard did not paint from life but rather drew his subject—sometimes photographing it as well—and made notes on the colors. He then painted the canvas in his studio from his notes.^[1]

In 1938 there was a major exhibition of his work along with Vuillard's at the Art Institute of Chicago. He finished his last painting, The Almond Tree in Blossom, a week before his death in his cottage on La Route de Serra Capeou near Le Cannet, on the French Riviera, in 1947. The Museum of Modern Art in New York City organized a posthumous retrospective of Bonnard's work in 1948, although originally it was meant to be a celebration of the artist's eightieth birthday.

Two major exhibitions of Bonnard's work took place in 1998: February through May at the Tate Gallery in London, and from June through October at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Gallery[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Hyman, Timothy (1998) Bonnard. London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 978-0-500-20310-1
• Cowling, Elizabeth; Mundy, Jennifer (1990). On Classic Ground: Picasso, Léger, de Chirico and the New Classicism 1910-1930. London: Tate Gallery. ISBN 1-85437-043-X
• Frèches-Thory, Claire, & Perucchi-Petry, Ursula, ed.: Die Nabis: Propheten der Moderne, Kunsthaus Zürich & Grand Palais, Paris & Prestel, Munich 1993 ISBN 3-7913-1969-8 (German), (French)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pierre Bonnard

• A tribute to Pierre Bonnard
• Pierre Bonnard at the Museum of Modern Art
• Biography and some pictures
• Guggenheim museum
• Met Exhibition - Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors January 27, 2009–April 19, 2009
• "Complicated Bliss" by Jed Perl, The New Republic, 1 April 2009
• Works by Pierre Bonnard (public domain in Canada)

Paul Jamot and Maurice Denis.

Maurice Denis.

Maurice Denis (November 25, 1870 – November 1943) was a French painter and writer, and a member of the Symbolist and Les Nabis movements. His theories contributed to the foundations of cubism, fauvism, and abstract art.

Early life[link]

Maurice Denis was born November 25, 1870, in Granville, Manche, a coastal town in the Normandy region of France. Waters and coastlines would remain favorite subject matter throughout his career, as would material drawn from the bible. For such an avant-garde figure, Denis had a surprisingly broad religious streak, writing in his notebook at age 15, "Yes, it's necessary that I am a Christian painter, that I celebrate all the miracles of Christianity, I feel it's necessary."^[1] The Denis family was affluent, and young Maurice attended both the École des Beaux-Arts and the Académie Julian, where he studied with the French figure painter and theorist Jules Joseph Lefebvre.

Career[link]

Les Nabis[link]

At the Académie, he met painters and future Nabi members including Paul Sérusier, Pierre Bonnard; through Bonnard he also met the future Nabis Édouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel. In 1890, they formed The Nabis. They chose "Nabi"—Hebrew for "Prophet"—because they understood they would be creating new forms of expression. The group would split apart by the end of the decade, and would influence the later work of both Bonnard and Vuillard, as well as non-Nabi painters like Henri Matisse.

After Les Nabis, Denis went on to focus on religious subjects and murals. In 1922, he published his collected historical and theoretical work as "Nouvelles théories sur l’art moderne, sur l’art sacré"—that is, "New Theories of Modern and Sacred Art."

The subjects of his mature works include landscapes and figure studies, particularly of mother and child. But his primary interest remained the painting of religious subjects, like "The dignity of labour", commissioned in 1931 by the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions to decorate the main staircase of the Centre William Rappard.

Theory[link]

Denis was among the first artists to insist on the flatness of the picture plane—one of the great starting points for modernism, as practiced in the visual arts.

In his famous proposal for the definition of painting, offered in 1890, he stated: "Remember that a picture, before being a battle horse, a nude, an anecdote or whatnot, is essentially a flat surface covered with colors assembled in a certain order."

In 1898, he produced a theory of creation that found the source for art in the character of the painter: "That which creates a work of art is the power and the will of the artist."

Personal life[link]

Denis, a Catholic tertiary, married his first wife, Marthe Meurier, in 1893. They had seven children, and she would pose for numerous Denis works. Following her death in 1919, Denis painted a chapel dedicated to her memory. Two years later, he married again, to Elisabeth Graterolle, and fathered two more children.

Denis died in Paris of injuries resulting from an automobile accident in November 1943. (The date of his death is variously listed as the 2nd, 3rd, or 13th.)

Exhibitions[link]

In 1980, the Maurice Denis Museum was opened in the artist's home in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

A major retrospective was mounted at The Musée Des Beaux Arts de Montréal in 2007; it was the first major Denis show in North America.^[2]

A similar exhibition took place in 1995 at the UK's Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.^[3]

See also[link]

• Henry Lerolle, patron
• Odilon Redon

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

Wikisource has the text of a 1922 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Maurice Denis.

• Jean Paul Bouillon, Maurice Denis, 1993, ISBN 2-605-00245-4 & ISBN 978-2-605-00245-0
• Russell T. Clement, Four French Symbolists: A Sourcebook on Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, and Maurice Denis, Greenwood Press, 1996, ISBN 0-313-29752-5 & ISBN 978-0-313-29752-6
• Frèches-Thory, Claire, & Perucchi-Petri, Ursula, ed.: Die Nabis: Propheten der Moderne, Kunsthaus Zürich & Grand Palais, Paris & Prestel, Munich 1993 ISBN 3-7913-1969-8 (German), (French)
• Paul Jamot, Maurice Denis, 1945, ASIN B000XY26Y6
• Jean-Jacques Leveque, Maurice Denis, 2006, ISBN 2-86770-181-3 & ISBN 978-2-86770-181-8

PHASE 2 (aka Lonny Wood)^[1] is one of the most influential and well known New York City aerosol artists. Mostly active in the 1970s, Phase 2 is generally credited with originating the "bubble letter" style of aerosol writing, also known as "softies".^[2] He was also influential in the early hip-hop scene.

Graffiti career[link]

Phase 2 is from The Bronx, and attended DeWitt Clinton High School along with a number of other early graffiti artists. Many famous graffiti writers of the early 1970s would meet at a doughnut shop across from the school called the Coffee Shop before heading down to the subway station at 149th Street and Grand Concourse to watch tagged trains on the IRT line pass by.^[3] Phase 2 was mentored in graffiti by his friend and neighbor Thomas Lee aka Lee 163d!, one of the pioneers of graf writing in The Bronx.^[2]

He began writing in late 1971 under the name Phase 2, a moniker which had a rather mundane provenance. As Phase 2 would later recall, "the previous year we'd given this party. We were getting ready to give another one and I said, 'We'll call this one Phase Two.' I don't know why, but I was stuck on the name. It had meaning for me. I started writing 'Phase 2.'"^[4]

Part of the appeal of graffiti writing for Phase 2 was that it allowed him to get his "name" known yet remain anonymous.^[5] He noted later that tagging provided disadvantaged urban teens "the only significant vehicle to represent their 'existence.'"^[6]

It was in late 1972 that Phase 2 first used an early version of the "bubble letter" or "softie", a style of graffiti writing which would become extremely influential and is considered a "giant leap" in the art form.^[2] The puffed-out, marshmallow-like letters drawn by Phase 2 were soon copied by other artists who added their own variations. Phase himself quickly embellished on his original form, creating and naming dozens of varieties of softies such as "phasemagorical phantastic" (bubble letters with stars), "bubble cloud", and "bubble drip."^[7] He is also credited with pioneering the use of arrows in graf writing around this same time.^[8] Hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang has noted that Phase 2's canvasses from 1973 have "been widely recognized as defining the early genre."^[9]

Over time Phase's work become more and more complex, moving far away from the simple tags of the early 70s to "hieroglyphical calligraphic abstraction."^[5] Chang points out that much of Phase's work involved "deconstructing the letter", transforming characters in the alphabet "into hard lines, third eyes, horns, drills, spikes, Egyptian pharaohs and dogs, pure geometrics."^[9] Another New York graffiti artist, Vulcan, remarked that "one of the things about Phase is that he was the only person at the time whose name could roll by ten times and each piece was different. That's what you noticed about his [work]."^[5]

In 1974 Phase 2 joined the newly created United Graffiti Artists, a professional graffiti collective which began to attract media attention. He was featured in an important essay on graffiti art by Richard Goldstein which appeared in New York magazine and inspired a new generation of graffiti artists.^[2]

In the 1980s, Phase 2 began publishing International Graffiti Times, the first zine about graffiti writing.^[10]

Influence in hip-hop[link]

Unlike some other pioneers of New York City graffiti, Phase 2 had a prominent role in The South Bronx hip-hop scene in the early 1980s. He also continues to be referenced in hip-hop songs.

Phase participated in the legendary hip-hop shows organized by Kool Lady Blue during the summer of 1982 at the Roxy nightclub in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. These shows brought together the top DJ's, MC's, breakers, and aerosol artist from The South Bronx and introduced hip-hop music and culture to the downtown punk and new wave scenes. Phase 2 designed the flyers for these events and often did aerosol pieces live on stage.^[11] He was also part of the first "international" hip-hop tour when stars from the Roxy performances toured in England and France in November of that year.^[12]

Phase 2 was one of the few aerosol artists to be involved in the musical side of hip-hop culture as well. He had a background as a DJ in the very early days of hip-hop, though he never made a name for himself in that role.^[13] In 1982, as part of his involvement with the Roxy scene, Phase released two rap singles. "Beach Boy" was a collaboration with Barry Michael Cooper, who would later co-write the script for New Jack City. "The Roxy" featured the Bill Laswell-led group Material and Grandmixer D.ST, though Phase 2 would later remark that he was disappointed in the song and felt that it "wasn't done properly."^[13][14]

Phase was also an early b-boy and claims that his dance crew pioneered the uprock (or "battle rock") style of dance despite claims that it originated in Brooklyn.^[13] He was thus actively involved in all of the traditional "four elements" of hip-hop culture.

Though he did not have a role in the production, Phase 2 did apparently influence the classic early hip-hop movie Wild Style. In the DVD commentary for the film, director Charlie Ahearn explained that, when thinking about the key character named "Phade", he had Phase 2 in mind (either to actually play the part or simply as a model) because Phase was a legendary graffiti writer from the past who was also involved in the hip-hop scene, as was the character of Phade. The role would ultimately be played by Fab 5 Freddy, himself a graffiti artist who along with Ahearn was the major creative force behind Wild Style. Phase 2 did take on an official role in another early hip-hop film when he worked as a graffiti consultant on the 1984 movie Beat Street.^[15]

In his 1995 song "Out for Fame" - an homage to graffiti artists and culture - KRS-One implores his audience "in the name of Phase 2" and fellow Bronx graffiti legend Stay High to "grab your cans and hit the streets." Several years later Mos Def mentioned Phase 2 on his widely respected debut album Black on Both Sides, specifically on the track "Hip Hop", in which he noted that hip-hop itself was "all city like Phase 2" - presumably a reference to the ubiquity of Phase 2's graffiti pieces on trains throughout the city during the early 1970s. In 1996, he appeared in the song I Messaggeri Pt.I contained in italian artist Neffa's album I Messaggeri della Dopa.

References[link]

Works cited[link]

• George, Nelson Buppies, B-boys, Baps & Bohos: Notes on Post-Soul Black Culture. Da Capo Press. 2001. ISBN 0-306-81027-1. 
• Chang, Jeff (2005). Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. Picador. ISBN 0-312-42579-1.
• Castleman, Craig (1982). Getting Up: Subway Graffiti in New York. MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-53051-1. 

External links[link]

• Adam Mansbach interview with PHASE 2
• "Writer of the Storm", Raw Vision interview with PHASE 2

v t e Street art Culture Activism Aerosol paint Culture jamming Direct action Graffiti (terminology use theory) Guerrilla art Hip hop culture Installation art Kolam Murals Propaganda Reverse graffiti Screenprinting Spray paint art Stencil graffiti Sticker art Subway Art Yarn bombing Lists of artists Street Graffiti Poster Stencil Wheatpaste Places Atlanta Berlin (Berlin Wall) Hong Kong (Free Ai Weiwei campaign) Melbourne Philadelphia San Francisco (Balmy Alley·Clarion Alley) São Paulo (pixação) Sydney (Newtown area) Toronto Companies Monstercolors Events Living Walls Related articles Built environment MTA Pixação Public art Public space Psychogeography Rapid transit Street party Urban planning Vandalism