Denis, Maurice 1870-1943
French artist and art theorist

Born in Grandville, he was one of the original group of Symbolist painters, and then of the Nabis ('prophets'), influenced by Gauguin. His comments on the aesthetics of the modern movement have obtained a wide currency. He wrote Th�ories (1913), Nouvelles th�ories (1921, 'New Theories'), Histoire de l'art religieux (1939, 'History of Religious Art') and a study of S�rusier (1942). He executed some large murals for the Th��tre des Champs �lys�es and the Petit Palace. In 1919 he helped to found, with George-Olivier Desvalli�res (1861-1950), the Studios of Sacred Art, devoted to the revival of religious painting. His most famous picture is perhaps the Hommage � C�zanne (1900) in the Mus�e d'Art Moderne, Paris.