Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...
,
illustrator
An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complic ...
and
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...
, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the
Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...
group of
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...
painters
Les Nabis, his early work was strongly influenced by the work of
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
, as well as the prints of
Hokusai
, known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock print series '' Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the iconic print ''The Great W ...
and other Japanese artists. Bonnard was a leading figure in the transition from
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
to
Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
. He painted landscapes, urban scenes, portraits and intimate domestic scenes, where the backgrounds, colors and painting style usually took precedence over the subject.
Early life and education
Pierre Bonnard was born in
Fontenay-aux-Roses
Fontenay-aux-Roses () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.
In 1880 a girls school École Normale Supérieure was opened in the town. It was one of the most prestigious of Paris and ...
,
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a département in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west ...
on 3 October 1867. His mother, Élisabeth Mertzdorff, was from
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...
. His father, Eugène Bonnard, was from the
Dauphiné, and was a senior official in the French Ministry of War. He had a brother, Charles, and a sister, Andrée, who in 1890 married the composer
Claude Terrasse
Claude Terrasse (27 January 1867 – 30 June 1923) was a French composer of operettas.
Terrasse was born in L'Arbresle, Rhône. He became known by writing the music for the play '' Ubu Roi'' by Alfred Jarry in 1896. In Paris, his brother-in-law, ...
.
He received his education in the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and Lycée Charlemagne in Vanves. He showed a talent for drawing and water colors, as well as caricatures. He painted frequently in the gardens of his parents' country home at
Le Grand-Lemps
Le Grand-Lemps () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France.
Geography
The area of the municipality is 1290 hectares (about 5 square miles). It is located at the edge of the plain of Bièvre (Beaver) river, halfway between ...
near
La Côte-Saint-André
La Côte-Saint-André () is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France.
Populations
Personalities
*Hector Berlioz was born here. His birthplace is now a museum: Musée Hector-Berlioz.
* Philippe du Contant de la Molette was bo ...
in the
Dauphiné. He also showed a strong interest in literature. He received his baccalaureate in the classics, and, to satisfy his father, between 1886 and 1887 earned his ''license'' in law, and began practicing as a lawyer in 1888.
While he was studying law, he attended art classes at the
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number ...
in Paris. At the Académie Julien he met his future friends and fellow artists,
Paul Sérusier
Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism.
Education
Sérusier was born in Paris. He studied ...
,
Maurice Denis, Gabriel Ibels and
Paul Ranson
Paul-Élie Ranson (29 March 1861 – 20 February 1909) was a French painter and writer associated with Les Nabis.
Biography
He was born in Limoges. His mother died in childbirth, so he was raised and educated by his grandparents and his fa ...
.
[Cogeval, Guy, ''Bonnard'' (2015) p. 148]
In 1888, Bonnard was accepted by the
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...
, where he met
Édouard Vuillard and
Ker Xavier Roussel
Ker-Xavier Roussel (10 December 1867 – 6 June 1944) was a French painter associated with Les Nabis.
Biography
Born François Xavier Roussel in Lorry-lès-Metz, Moselle in 1867, at age fifteen he studied at the Lycée Condorcet in Paris; alo ...
. He also sold his first commercial work of art, a design for poster for France-Champagne, which helped him convince his family that he could make a living as an artist. His first studio was on the rue Lechapelais.
Personal life
From 1893 until her death, Bonnard lived with Marthe de Méligny (1869–1942), and she was the model for many of his paintings, including many nudes. Her birth name was Maria Boursin, but she had changed it before she met Bonnard. They married in 1925. In the years before their marriage, Bonnard had love affairs with two other women, who also served as models for some of his paintings, Renée Monchaty (the partner of the American painter
Harry Lachmann) and Lucienne Dupuy de Frenelle, the wife of a doctor; it has been suggested that Bonnard may have been the father of Lucienne's second son. Renée Monchaty committed suicide shortly after Bonnard and de Méligny married.
Early career – the Nabis
Bonnard received pressure from a different direction to continue painting. While he had received his license to practice law in 1888, he failed in the examination for entering the official registry of lawyers.
[Cogeval (2015), p. 9] Art was his only option. After the summer holidays, he joined with his friends from the Academy Julien to form
Les Nabis, an informal group of artists with different styles and philosophies but common artistic ambitions. As he later wrote, Bonnard was entirely unaware of the impressionist painters, or of Gauguin and other new painters.
His friend
Paul Sérusier
Paul Sérusier (9 November 1864 – 7 October 1927) was a French painter who was a pioneer of abstract art and an inspiration for the avant-garde Nabis movement, Synthetism and Cloisonnism.
Education
Sérusier was born in Paris. He studied ...
showed him a painting on a wooden cigar box he made after visiting
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
at Pont-Aven, using patches of pure color in the style of Gauguin. In 1890, Denis, at age twenty, formalized the doctrine in which a painting was considered "a surface plane covered with colors assembled in a certain order."
Some of the Nabis had highly religious, philosophical or mystical approaches to their paintings, but Bonnard remained more cheerful and unaffiliated. The painter-writer Aurelien Lugné-Poe, who shared a studio at 28 rue Pigalle with Bonnard and Vuillard, wrote later, "Pierre Bonnard was the humorist among us; his nonchalant gaiety, and humor expressed in his productions, of which the decorative spirit always preserved a sort of satire, from which he later departed."
In 1891, he met
Toulouse-Lautrec and, in December 1891, showed his work at the annual exhibition of the
Société des Artistes Indépendants
The Société des Artistes Indépendants (''Society of Independent Artists'') or Salon des Indépendants was formed in Paris on 29 July 1884. The association began with the organization of massive exhibitions in Paris, choosing the slogan "''sans ...
. In the same year, Bonnard also began an association with ''
La Revue Blanche
''La Revue blanche'' was a French art and literary magazine run between 1889 and 1903. Some of the greatest writers and artists of the time were its collaborators.
History
The ''Revue blanche'' was founded in Liège in 1889 and run by the Natans ...
'', for which he and
Édouard Vuillard designed a
frontispiece. In March 1891, his work was displayed with the work of the other Nabis at the Le Barc de Boutteville.
The style of Japanese graphic arts became an important influence on Bonnard. In 1893, a major exposition of works of
Utamaro and
Hiroshige was held at the Durand-Ruel Gallery, and the Japanese influence, particularly the use of multiple points of view, and the use of bold geometric patterns in clothing, such as checkered blouses, began to appear in his work. Because of his passion for Japanese art, his nickname among the Nabis became ''Le Nabi le trés japonard.''
He devoted an increasing amount of attention to decorative art, designing furniture, fabrics, fans and other objects. He continued to design posters for France-Champagne, which gained him an audience outside the art world. In 1892, he began creating lithographs, and painted ''Le Corsage a carreaux'' and ''La Partie de croquet''. He also made a series of illustrations for the music books of his brother-in-law,
Claude Terrasse
Claude Terrasse (27 January 1867 – 30 June 1923) was a French composer of operettas.
Terrasse was born in L'Arbresle, Rhône. He became known by writing the music for the play '' Ubu Roi'' by Alfred Jarry in 1896. In Paris, his brother-in-law, ...
.
In 1894, he turned in a new direction and made a series of paintings of scenes of the life of Paris. In his urban scenes, the buildings and even animals were the focus of attention; faces were rarely visible. He also made his first portrait of his future wife, Marthe, whom he married in 1925.
In 1895, he became an early participant of the movement of
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...
, designing a stained glass window, called ''Maternity'', for
Tiffany.
In 1895, he had his first individual exposition of paintings, posters and lithographs at the Durand-Ruel Gallery. He also illustrated a novel, ''Marie'', by
Peter Nansen
Peter Nansen (20 January 1861 - 31 July 1918) was a Danish novelist, journalist, and publisher.
He is best known as the author of the novels ''Julie's Diary'', ''Marie'', and ''God's Peace'', which together constitute ''Love's Trilogy''. ''Mar ...
, published in series by in ''La Revue Blanche''. The following year he participated in a group exposition of Nabis at the Amboise Vollard Gallery. In 1899, he took part in another major exposition of works of the Nabis.
File:Pierre Bonnard Woman with Dog 1891.jpg, ''Woman with a Dog'' (1891). The checked blouse was inspired by Japanese prints.
File:LE CORSAGE À CARREAUX.JPG, ''Checkered Blouse'' (1892), a portrait of his sister Andrée Terrasse, with her cat
File:Fairground Sideshow (Parade) by Pierre Bonnard.JPG, ''The Parade'' (1892), one of several colorful paintings of Paris street performers
File:Two Dogs in a Deserted Street, Pierre Bonnard, c1894.jpg, ''Two Dogs in a Deserted Street'' (1894), oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art
File:Pierre Bonnard, 1895 - L'Omnibus.jpg, ''The Omnibus'' (1895)
File:'Dancers' by Pierre Bonnard.jpg, ''Dancers'' (1896)
Later years (1900–1938)
Throughout the early 20th century, as new artistic movements emerged, Bonnard kept refining and revising his personal style, and exploring new subjects and media, but keeping constant the characteristics of his work. Working in his studio at 65 rue de Douai in Paris, he presented paintings at the Salon des Independents in 1900, and also produced 109 lithographs for ''Parallèment'', a book of poems by
Verlaine. He also took part in an exhibition with the other Nabis at the Bernheim Jeaune gallery. He presented nine paintings at the Salon des Independents in 1901. In 1905, he produced a series of nudes and of portraits, and in 1906 had a personal exposition at the Bernheim-Jeune Gallery. In 1908, he illustrated a book of poetry by
Octave Mirbeau, and made his first long stay in the South of France, at the home of the painter
Manguin in
Saint-Tropez
, INSEE = 83119
, postal code = 83990
, image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Saint-Tropez-A (Var).svg
, image flag=Flag of Saint-Tropez.svg
Saint-Tropez (; oc, Sant Tropetz, ; ) is a commune in the Var department and the region of Provence- ...
. in 1909 and, in 1911, began a series of decorative panels, called ''Méditerranée'', for the Russian art patron
Ivan Morozov.
[Cogeval (2015), p. 149 ]
During the years of the First World War, Bonnard concentrated on nudes and portraits, and in 1916 completed a series of large compositions, including ''La Pastorale'', ''Méditterranée'', ''La Paradis Terreste'' and ''Paysage de Ville''. His reputation in the French art establishment was secure; in 1918 he was selected, along with
Renoir, as an honorary President of the Association of Young French Artists.
In the 1920s, he produced illustrations for a book by
Andre Gide (1924) and another by
Claude Anet (1923). He showed works at the Autumn Salon in 1923, and in 1924 was honored with a retrospective of sixty-eight of his works at the Galerie Druet. In 1925, he purchased a villa in
Cannes
Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...
.
File:Siesta 1900, by Pierre Bonnard.jpg, ''Siesta'' (1900), National Gallery of Victoria
File:LA CHARMILLE.JPG, ''La Charmille'' (1901)
File:Pierre Bonnard, 1908 - Nu à contre-jour.jpg, '' Nude Against the Light'' (1908), Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium
The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They include six museums: the Oldmasters Mus ...
File:Vernonnet - Paysage près de Giverny - Pierre Bonnard - ABDAG002365.jpg, ''Vernonnet - Paysage près de Giverny'' (1922), Aberdeen Art Gallery
Bonnard, Coupe de fruits sur une table.jpg, ''Fruit Bowl on a Table
''Fruit Bowl on a Table'' is a circa 1934 still-life painting by the French artist Pierre Bonnard which was bought by the city of Strasbourg in 1995 from the heiresses of Claude Roger-Marx
Claude Roger-Marx (12 November 1888, Paris – 17 May ...
'' (c. 1934), Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
Final years and death (1939–1947)
In 1938, Bonnard and Vuillard's works were featured at an exposition at the
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
. The outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in September 1939 forced Bonnard to depart Paris for the south of France, where he remained until the end of the war. Under the German occupation, he refused to paint an official portrait of French collaborationist leader
Marechal Petain, but accepted a commission to paint a religious painting of
Saint Francis de Sales, with the face of his friend
Vuillard, who had died two years earlier.
In 1947 he finished his last painting, ''The Almond Tree in Blossom'', a week before his death in his cottage on La Route de Serra Capeou near
Le Cannet, on the
French Riviera
The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend from ...
. The
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
in New York City organized a posthumous retrospective of Bonnard's work in 1948, although originally it was meant to be a celebration of the artist's 80th birthday.
File:Pierre Bonnard, c.1940-1946, Nude in Bathtub, oil on canvas, 122.56 × 150.50 cm, Carnegie Museum of Art.jpg, ''Nude in the Bath and Small Dog'', (c. 1941–1946) Carnegie Museum of Art
The Carnegie Museum of Art, is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsbu ...
Bemberg Fondation Toulouse - Dernier autoportrait de Pierre Bonnard de 1945 - 56x46.jpg, Last self-portrait (1945) Bemberg Fondation
File:PierreBonnard-1946-Stairs with Mimosa.png, Stairs with Mimosa (1946)
Japanism
Japanese art played an important part in Bonnard's work. He was first able to see the works of Japanese artists via the Paris gallery of
Siegfried Bing. Bing brought works by Hokusai and other Japanese print makers to France, and from May 1888 through April 1891 published a monthly art journal, ''Le Japon Artistique'', which included color illustrations in 1891. In 1890, Bing organized an important exhibition of seven hundred prints he had brought from Japan, and made a donation of Japanese art to the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...
.
[Lacambre, Geneviève, ''La déferlante japonaise'', published in ''Les Nabis et le décor'', Beaux Arts Editions (March 2019), pp. 38–40 ]
Bonnard used the model of Japanese ''kakemono'' scroll art -- long, vertical panels -- in his series of paintings ''Women in the garden'' (1890-91), now in the Museé d'Orsay. Originally designed to appear together as a single screen, Bonnard decided to display ''Women in the garden'' as four separate decorative panels. The female forms are reduced to flat silhouettes, and there is no rendering of depth in the picture. The faces are turned away from the viewer and the pictures are entirely dominated by the colors and bold patterns of the costumes and the backgrounds. The models are his sister Andreé and his cousin Berthe Schaedin. Bonnard often pictured women in checkered blouses, a design he said he had discovered in Chinese prints.
File:Pierre Bonnard, 1889 ca - détrempe.jpg, Painted screen with crane, ducks, pheasant, bamboo and ferns (1889)
File:1896 Bonnard Familie des Komponisten Claude Terrasse anagoria.JPG, Painted screen; the Bonnard family in the garden (1896), Alte Nationalgalerie
Graphic arts
Bonnard wrote, "Notre génération a toujours cherché les rapports de l'art avec la vie" (Our generation always was searching for connections between art and life). Bonnard and the other Nabis were particularly interested in integrating their art into popular forms, such as posters, journal covers and illustrations, and engravings in books, as well as into ordinary household decoration, in the form of murals, painted screens, textiles, tapestries, furniture, glass and dishes.
At the beginning of his career, Bonnard designed posters for a French champagne firm, for which he gained public attention. He later produced many sets of engravings illustrating the works of the avant-garde authors of his time.
File:BonnardFranceChampagne.jpg, Poster for France-Champagne by Pierre Bonnard (1891), which made him known outside the art world
File:Bonnard - Met Collection - DT8576.jpg, Poster for the review ''Blanche'', Metropolitan Museum also published in Les Maîtres de l'Affiche
''Maîtres de l'Affiche'' (Masters of the Poster) refers to 256 color lithographic plates used to create an art publication during the Belle Époque in Paris, France. The collection, reproduced from the original works of ninety-seven artists in a ...
File:Les Parisiennes cph.3g10009.jpg, ''Les Parisiens'', lithograph (1893)
File:Bonnard - Met Collection - DP824352.jpg, Illustration for a music textbook written by his brother-in-law, composer Claude Terrasse
Claude Terrasse (27 January 1867 – 30 June 1923) was a French composer of operettas.
Terrasse was born in L'Arbresle, Rhône. He became known by writing the music for the play '' Ubu Roi'' by Alfred Jarry in 1896. In Paris, his brother-in-law, ...
(1893)
Method
Bonnard is known for his intense use of color, especially via areas built with small brush marks and close values. His often complex compositions—typically of sunlit interiors and gardens populated with friends and family members—are both narrative and autobiographical. Bonnard's fondness for depicting intimate scenes of everyday life, has led to him being called an "
Intimist"; his wife Marthe was an ever-present subject over the course of several decades.
[ She is seen seated at the kitchen table, with the remnants of a meal; or nude, as in a series of paintings where she reclines in the bathtub. He also painted several ]self-portrait
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...
s, landscapes, street scenes, and many still life
A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, bo ...
s, which usually depicted flowers and fruit.
Bonnard did not paint from life but rather drew his subject—sometimes photographing it as well—and made notes on the colors. He then painted the canvas in his studio from his notes. "I have all my subjects to hand," he said, "I go back and look at them. I take notes. Then I go home. And before I start painting I reflect, I dream."
He worked on numerous canvases simultaneously, which he tacked onto the walls of his small studio. In this way, he could more freely determine the shape of a painting; "It would bother me if my canvases were stretched onto a frame. I never know in advance what dimensions I am going to choose."
Critical reception and legacy
Claude Roger-Marx
Claude Roger-Marx (12 November 1888, Paris – 17 May 1977, Paris), was a French writer, and playwright, as well as an art critic and art historian like his father Roger Marx (1859–1913). He also used the pen name "Claudinet".
Biography
Roge ...
remarked that Bonnard "catches fleeting poses, steals unconscious gestures, crystallises the most transient expressions".
Although Bonnard avoided public attention, his work sold well during his life. At the time of his death, his reputation had been eclipsed by subsequent avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...
developments in the art world; reviewing a retrospective of Bonnard's work in Paris in 1947, Christian Zervos Christian Zervos ( el, Χρήστος Ζερβός; Argostoli, Cefalonia, Greece, January 1, 1889 – September 12, 1970, Paris) was a Greek-French art historian, critic, collector, writer and publisher.
Better known as an art critic in his own ri ...
assessed the artist in terms of his relationship to Impressionism, and found him wanting. "In Bonnard's work," he wrote, "Impressionism becomes insipid and falls into decline." In response, Henri Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prim ...
wrote: "I maintain that Bonnard is a great artist for our time and, naturally, for posterity."
Bonnard was described, by his own friend and historians, as a man of "quiet temperament" and one who was unobtrusively independent. His life was relatively free from "the tensions and reversals of untoward circumstance." It has been suggested that: "Like Daumier, whose life knew little serenity, Bonnard produced a work during his sixty years' activity that follows an even line of development."
Bonnard has been described as "the most thoroughly idiosyncratic of all the great twentieth-century painters", and the unusual vantage points of his compositions rely less on traditional modes of pictorial structure than voluptuous color, poetic allusions and visual wit. Identified as a late practitioner of Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passa ...
in the early 20thcentury, he has since been recognized for his unique use of color and his complex imagery.[Amory, 4] "It's not just the colors that radiate in a Bonnard," writes Roberta Smith, "there's also the heat of mixed emotions, rubbed into smoothness, shrouded in chromatic veils and intensified by unexpected spatial conundrums and by elusive, uneasy figures."[Smith]
Two major exhibitions of Bonnard's work took place in 1998: February through May at the Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
in London, and from June through October at the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...
in New York City. In 2009, the exhibition "Pierre Bonnard: The Late Interiors" was shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
.[ Reviewing the exhibition for the magazine '']The New Republic
''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'', Jed Perl wrote:
"Bonnard is the most thoroughly idiosyncratic of all the great twentieth-century painters. What sustains him is not traditional ideas of pictorial structure and order, but rather some unique combination of visual taste, psychological insight, and poetic feeling. He also has a quality that might be characterized as perceptual wit—an instinct for what will work in a painting. Almost invariably he recognizes the precise point where his voluptuousness may be getting out of hand, where he needs to introduce an ironic note. Bonnard's wit has everything to do with the eccentric nature of his compositions. He finds it funny to sneak a figure into a corner, or have a cat staring out at the viewer. His metaphoric caprices have a comic edge, as when he turns a figure into a pattern in the wallpaper. And when he imagines a basket of fruit as a heap of emeralds and rubies and diamonds, he does so with the panache of a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat."[
]
In 2016, the Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
in San Francisco hosted an exhibit "Pierre Bonnard: Painting Arcadia", featuring more than 70 works spanning the artist's entire career.
Bonnard's record price in a public sale was for ''Terrasse à Vernon'', sold by Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is owned by Groupe Artémi ...
in 2011 for €8,485,287 (£7,014,200).
In 2014, the painting ''La femme aux Deux Fauteuils'' (''Woman with Two Armchairs''), with an estimated value of around €600,000 (£497,000), which had been stolen in London in 1970, was discovered in Italy. The painting, together with a work by Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
known as ''Fruit on a Table with a Small Dog
''Fruits on a Table'' or ''Still Life with Apples and Grapes'' (''Nature Morte a la Comptesse de N'') is a still life painting by French artist Paul Gauguin painted in 1889. It was one of two works stolen from the private collection of Terence F. ...
'' had been bought by a Fiat employee in 1975, at a railway lost-property sale, for 45,000 lira (about £32).
Bonnard features heavily in the 2005 Booker prize winning novel, ''The Sea'' by John Banville
William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry J ...
. In the novel, the protagonist and art historian Max Morden is writing a book about Bonnard and discusses the painter's life and work throughout.
See also
* '' The Open Window'' by Bonnard
References and sources
References
Sources
*Amory, Dita, ed. (2009). ''Pierre Bonnard: The Late Still Lifes and Interiors''. New Haven: Yale University Press.
*Brodskaya, Nathalia (2011)
''Bonnard''. Parkstone International.
*Cogeval, Guy (2015). ''Bonnard''. Paris: Hazan, Malakoff.
*Cowling, Elizabeth; Mundy, Jennifer (1990). ''On Classic Ground: Picasso, Léger, de Chirico and the New Classicism 1910-1930''. London: Tate Gallery.
*Frèches-Thory, Claire, & Perucchi-Petry, Ursula, ed.: ''Die Nabis: Propheten der Moderne'', Kunsthaus Zürich & Grand Palais, Paris & Prestel, Munich 1993
*Hyman, Timothy (1998). ''Bonnard''. London: Thames & Hudson.
*
*Smith, Roberta
*Turner, Elizabeth Hutton (2002). ''Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late.'' London: Phillip Wilson.
*Whitfield, Sarah; Elderfield, John (1998). ''Bonnard''. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
External links
*
"Complicated Bliss" by Jed Perl, ''The New Republic'', 1 April 2009
* Works by Pierre Bonnard (public domain in Canada)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonnard, Pierre
1867 births
1947 deaths
People from Fontenay-aux-Roses
Académie Julian alumni
Art Nouveau painters
19th-century French painters
19th-century French male artists
French male painters
20th-century French painters
20th-century French male artists
Modern painters
Lycée Louis-le-Grand alumni
Les Nabis
Post-impressionist painters
School of Paris
Lycée Condorcet alumni
20th-century French printmakers
Members of the Royal Academy of Belgium
Honorary Members of the Royal Academy