How Davis Fellow Nami Bolat (C'25) Tracked a Cult-Like Group of Artists Across Three Continents

How Davis Fellow Nami Bolat (C’25) Tracked a Cult-Like Group of Artists Across Three Continents

Hayden Frye (C鈥�17)

August 25, 2023

In the waning days of the 19th century, a cult-like group of post-impressionist painters formed a secretive brotherhood in Paris called the Nabis. The artists were drawn together by a shared disdain for representational art and a communal longing to unlock the secrets of the so-called 鈥淥rient.鈥�

Nami Bolat (C鈥�25), who is double majoring in French and theology and religious studies and minoring in Japanese, spent the past few months researching the Nabis. Bolat spent the summer on a Davis Fellowship, digging through the lives, beliefs and paintings that the Nabis left behind, first in the United States, then in Japan and, finally, in France.

For Bolat, who has been fascinated by artists of the period since high school, the flow of religious and philosophical ideas from East to West, drew her to the project.

鈥淚 have always been abstractly interested in the interplay between the East and West, especially when it comes to spirituality and religion,鈥� explained Bolat. 鈥淭ime and time again, it seems like the West has looked to the East for inspiration that they can鈥檛 seem to find in their own religions.鈥�

Uncovering the Nabis

A painting of oil on wood. Bright yellows and greens depict trees alongside a body of water. They follow a road and lead to a nondescript house. — Paul S茅rusier鈥檚 Le Talisman (1888), the first Nabi piece.

The name that the group took, Nabis, comes from the Hebrew word Nebiim, meaning a prophet, enlightened one or seer.

鈥淭he name was coined by the poet Henri Cazali,鈥� said Bolat. 鈥淗e noticed a similarity between the way the brotherhood of painters sought to revitalize painting and the way the ancient projects had restored Israel.鈥�

The name, and the additional mystical and philosophical trappings of a secret society, stuck. For the Nabis, the ancient prophets of Israel were just one part of a vast network of holy men whose teachings they wanted to uncover and digest.

鈥淢any of the artists were fascinated by occultism, esotericism and Theosophy,鈥� said Bolat. 鈥淭heosophy claimed to be a synthesis of all world religions, a movement that sought the 鈥榰ltimate truth鈥� expressed by all religions and world views that was very popular in the period amidst a rapidly secularizing France and ever-increasing global communication and exchange.鈥�

According to Bolat, the Nabis, though secluded by choice, were emblematic of a larger cultural trend, wherein Western thinkers and artists dabbled broadly, sucking in philosophical and religious ideas from the East.

In her research, Bolat documents how the Nabis were importing more than just a piecemeal assembly of religious ideology, but were also drawing on Japanese art, including ukiyo-e, a genre that flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries and which was popular in Paris at the time.

鈥淛补辫补苍别蝉别 ukiyo-e woodblock prints had a profound and instantaneous impact on European artists,鈥� said Bolat. 鈥淚t rose in popularity as Western art of the mid-nineteenth century struck an impasse, ensnared by naturalism and sterile academicism.鈥�

The synthesis studied by Bolat traveled along ideological, religious and artistic avenues. By traveling to Paris and Tokyo, she was able to directly examine artwork from prominent members of the Nabis, including Paul-脡lie Ranson, Paul S茅rusier, and Maurice Denis.

鈥淢y research has uncovered that Theosophy seems to have been the most prominent religious influence on the group while the Japanese influence was mostly an aesthetic one,鈥� said Bolat. 鈥淭heosophy鈥檚 attempts to amalgamate or find commonalities between all religions and world views are fascinating, a bit frightening and another example of how the West interacted and continues to interact with the East, both positively and negatively, on the spiritual and religious plane.

The World as a Classroom

Nami Bolat (C’25) interacting with a friendly doe during her time in Japan.

Bolat鈥檚 travels and research were funded through a Royden B. Davis Fellowship. Every year, the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences awards undergraduate students fellowships between $1,000 and $5,000 to explore 鈥渢ransformative educational experiences.鈥�

Given in honor of Fr. Davis, Dean of the 海角论坛 of Arts & Sciences from 1966 to 1989, the fellowship empowers students to pursue avenues of interest that extend beyond the boundaries of the classroom, encouraging the curiosity that is at the heart of a liberal arts education.

鈥淚n any situation, one should always leave room for the unexpected and the unseen,鈥� Fr. Davis said in a 1985 commencement address. 鈥淚n order to do this, we must employ the imagination鈥� One gains through the imagination a freedom of action, and ability to be ready for fresh choices.鈥�

For Bolat, her summer experience not only expanded her horizons, but allowed her to connect her personal identity, interests and area of study. Bolat, who has relatives in France and Japan, was able to reconnect with family while studying the Nabis.

鈥淚 began my travels afraid I was about to face a tremendously lonely journey, worried that my subpar Japanese wouldn鈥檛 be enough to feel close to the family I鈥檝e left behind there, worried to be all alone wandering around Paris,鈥� said Bolat. 鈥淚 was proven completely and utterly wrong.鈥�

, an associate professor in the , sponsored Bolat鈥檚 research and mentored her throughout the process.

鈥淣ami鈥檚 project is an exciting and interdisciplinary one that has allowed her to combine all of her academic areas of interest in important and wide-ranging ways,鈥� said O鈥橬eil-Henry. 鈥淯sing her Japanese and French language skills, Nami was able to access different international archives and museums and in the process discover connections among history, art history, culture and religion.鈥�

Throughout her travels and archival research at home, Bolat was able to better understand the Nabis and herself.

鈥淓very single day brought something new and exciting,鈥� said Bolat. 鈥淓ven during the month before I left, I was immersed in research and there were so many times when my jaw was on the floor at what I was reading.鈥�

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