Pierre Bonnard
The Bath (second version), c. 1925
Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867-1947), Edmond Frapier; Printed by E. Duchâtel
Lithograph, Sheet: 46.70 x 32.40 cm (18 3/8 x 12 3/4 inches); Image: 30.50 x 21.00 cm (12 x 8 1/4 inches). Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1941.466
Location: not on view
Signed, lower right, in graphite: P Bonnard numbered, lower left, in graphite: 1/10
http://www.oil-painting-techniques.com/analysis-pierre-bonnard.html
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/pierre-bonnard-781
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-bonnard-pierre.htm
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-bonnard-pierre-artworks.htm
As for me, the note in my journal reads as such:
“Bonnard – Lithograph
Thick suggestion of
Line placement.
Color mild overlay
Each other limited palette”
There is at least one other lithograph from The Cleveland Museum of Art that I found that is attributed to Bonnard. It is a cityscape. I picked the one above figuring that my original interest bridged from Degas’ bathers. My attraction to both has to do with the vigour of mark making. Control over line in media beside pencil and ink with brush still churns my mental gears. I have a fascination with dark lines that meander in width and thickly coat the page. The thought germinates an odor of freshly burnt wood beneath my nose. I remember working in charcoal and wax my last year in college. At the heart of that execution was a purchase award given to me my senior year. I feel obligated to return to the practice I found. Being a bit nostalgic at heart, I still have the ashes from a camping trip some five years ago to motivate me. There is no doubt in my mind that I will return to those methods, even if it is in the dark of the morning when I turn eighty-seven.
Bonnard and Vuillard remain permanently etched in my mind. The two form the core of The Nabis – a group of painters who took on defining themselves as prophets. By redefining concepts of space in their paintings, I learned the intimacy of lived in spaces. The paintings comment on passing through worlds to arrive at a destination that is equally transitional. I latch on to the Nabis as much as I crave the Viennese Secessionists on a cold day. Saving money for a tome on both groups comes next. Library loan does not always sate my needs to devour images and history. To get the books, I either approach Amazon.com voraciously or knock over a museum store in Europe. Coffee table books with just as much text as image are dangerous to Sunday afternoons. Books, tea, and pastry become completely consumed.
As ever, stay hungry and curious.