Armand Point

Armand Point (23 March 1860 or 23 March 1861 – February 1932 Hélène married French diplomat Philippe Berthelot just before the start of the First World War. Philippe Jullian described Point as moving, at this time, from a "dreamy realism to a detailed idealism". Armand Point 1893.jpg|Hélène Linder, 1893 drawing Armand Point 1895 drawing of Madame Berthelot.jpg|A Portrait of Madame Berthelot. Charcoal and coloured chalks, 1895. Private collection Woman with cherry blossom Armand Point.jpg|Woman with cherry blossom, undated

Symbolism Poster for the fifth Salon de la Rose+Croix, 1896. Designed by Point and Léonard Sarluis. Soon, Point was moving towards fully fledged Symbolism. He made a determined effort to reject the modern world and the realism of Zola and Courbet. He adopted Rosicrucianism and became a friend of "Sâr" Peladan. Edward Lucie-Smith described him as a "medievalizing painter ... whose style mingled the influence of Moreau with that of the Pre-Raphaelites". From 1892 to 1896, Point exhibited at the Salon de la Rose+Croix

Subjects at this time were usually mythological, such as his 1897 The Siren which included a typical Symbolist femme fatale figure luring men to their doom. Also in 1897, Point contributed an original lithograph titled the Golden Legend (Fr. Légende dorée) to the L'Estampe Moderne. The journal included four original prints in each issue and Point's was issued in Number 5, September 1897. Other artists who contributed included Alphonse Mucha, Henri Fantin-Latour and Edward Burne-Jones.

Atelier de Haute-Claire The highly ornate Coffret d'Ophélie (Ophelia Box) produced at Atelier de Haute-Claire. From 1896 to 1901 Point lived in Marlotte, where he founded the Atelier de Haute-Claire not far from the home of the Barbizon school. Around the turn of the century, the distinction between the fine and decorative arts was beginning to break down and Point became increasingly interested in the latter. He sought to emulate William Morris in revolting against nineteenth-century materialism and produced applied art, including furniture, jewellery, fabrics, ceramics and wallpaper A number of similar boxes exist from the atelier, including an alternative Ophelia box (1903) and a Coffret aux serpents (1897–99), both in the Musée d'Orsay. The number of different materials and processes involved in making each box meant that production was complex and a number of different craftsmen were required to make each one, for instance, noted ceramicist Charles Virion. Philippe Jullian described the products of the atelier as more Neo-Byzantine than Art Nouveau.

A diverse group of people visited Haute-Claire, including Oscar Wilde just months before his death in 1900. Wilde was in exile in France following imprisonment in Britain.

Early and orientalist works

Symbolist works