Henri Rousseau. Jungles in Paris

Article number 10160058

Henri Rousseau. Jungles in Paris is an illustrated publication accompanying the major exhibition held at Tate Modern in London in 2005, devoted to the extraordinary jungle paintings of the French artist Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), commonly known as Le Douanier Rousseau. Although Rousseau never travelled to the tropical regions depicted in his paintings, he created lush imaginary jungles filled with dense vegetation, mysterious figures and wild animals. His sources included visits to the botanical gardens and natural history collections of Paris, popular illustrations, photographs and his own imagination. The exhibition explored the distinctive visual world Rousseau developed from these sources and brought together many of the jungle paintings for which he is now best known. Tigers, lions, monkeys, snakes and human figures appear among exaggerated tropical plants in compositions that combine careful observation with fantasy and dreamlike invention. Rousseau's unconventional perspective, simplified forms and intense approach to colour initially attracted ridicule from academic critics, yet his work was admired by members of the Parisian avant-garde and became highly influential in the development of modern art. The publication places the jungle paintings within Rousseau's wider artistic career and highlights the paradox at the heart of these celebrated works: seemingly exotic visions created not through direct experience of the tropics but largely within the urban environment of Paris. This concise Tate Modern publication is particularly relevant to collectors of Henri Rousseau, French modern art, naïve art, Post-Impressionism and museum exhibition ephemera.