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Ernest Bieler (Swiss, 1863-1948)
Goatherd with Her Flock



At the turn of the century, Ernest Biéler was practising two styles of painting at once and, consequently, pursuing virtually two careers: one closer to his heart, tending toward Realism, and the other based on status-seeking within the Symbolist movement. Ernest Biéler's Realism was based on love for his country... In the 1890s, Modernism meant rejecting Realism in favour of a more spiritual art which, at its most colourful and decorative, became Art Nouveau. Ernest Biéler resisted Internationalism and Symbolism, which gradually disappeared from his painting. But he remained ambivalent about them for years. Torn between the two painting styles ... he ended up practising both. His contemporaries .. asked him whether he was an idealist or a realist. "An artist can aspire to be both," Ernest Biéler replied. "One does not exclude the other. ..National sentiment is not irrelevant to art."
It is worth noting that Ernest Biéler's idealism was profoundly influenced by what he called "decoration", the term used by Mauris Denis in 1890 in his Theories.