European Peasant Art: True Simplicity

Modernist artists who found the essence of humanity in the exotic looked to European "peasant" art for the same truth. Like many other artists and designers, couturier Paul Poiret had traveled in Germany and Austria by 1910. There, artists like Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann were producing modernist architecture, painting, and decorative art, including textiles and fashion designs, using the bright colors of "peasant" art in their work. It was just at this moment, in 1909, that the Ballets Russes came to Paris from Russia for the first time, startling audiences with their exotic costumes and set designs based on brilliantly colored Russian "peasant" art. Instantly embraced by the French public, these "orientalist" designs influenced art and fashion throughout the 1910s and into the 20s, an example of the internationalism that was an important part of early modernism.