"Fin-de-Siècle Symbolist Prints from Manet to Munch," an exhibition of more than 50 prints by contemporaries of Toulouse-Lautrec, will be on view Sept. 22-Dec. 13 on the fourth floor of the Yale University Art Gallery.
The exhibit serves as a counterpart to the portrayals of public performance and gaiety in "The Pleasures of Paris: Prints by Toulouse-Lautrec," which is being shown on the first floor.
"Symbolism arose at a time of great political, social and psychological instability," says Richard S. Field, curator of prints, drawings and photographs at the gallery, who
organized both this and the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit.
"If Impressionism could be said to express a positive and optimistic view of the world -- a world of appearances -- then Symbolism must be regarded as a symptom of a loss of order."
Symbolists believed that art springs from people's deepest anxieties, impulses and languages, explains Field, adding that this notion parallels late 20th-century post-modernist ideas. The exhibit includes works by Odilon Redon, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch and Félix Valloton that "plumb the psychological depths of fin-de-siècle anguish," says Field.
In addition to the visual arts, Symbolist philosophy was embraced by the worlds of music, theater and literature. The exhibit also includes pieces illustrating Symbolist literary or musical works that were created by visual artists who paved the way for, rather than espoused, the movement. Examples of the latter include Edouard Manet's series for Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven," Henri Fantin-Latour's scenes from the operas of Richard Wagner, and Pierre Bonnard's illustration for Paul Verlaine's "Ballade Sappho."
The Yale University Art Gallery is located at the corner of Chapel and York streets. The museum and its sculpture garden are open to the public free of charge 10 a.m.-
5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday. A museum entrance for persons using wheelchairs is located at
201 York St. For further information about access, call 432-0606; for general information, call 432-0600.