Pierre Bonnard 1867 - 1947

Pierre Bonnard 1867 - 1947
Baths
Pierre
Bonnard
“Nude
Crouching
at the Bath”
1940
Young Pierre Bonnard spotted Marthe in 1893 when she was riding on a horsedrawn tram, became instantly entranced and persuaded her to become his model.
It was quite common at the time for poor women to become models and lovers for
aspiring artists at the time. Not only was it employment but could lead to wealth
and fame at the time (liken an artist back then to today’s movie stars or sports
stars).
Working from his Paris studio, Bonnard's depictions of Marthe in the beginning
were voluptuous and risqué. The woman herself, according to one of Bonnard's
friends, was like a little bird "with a tiptoe walk ... a timid air, a fondness for
water and for bathing".
Marthe's fondness for bathing became crucial to Bonnard's art. He portrayed her
in various poses, but always with a slender body, long legs, narrow waist and firm
breasts. She usually appears in the bathroom, in the bath or stepping out of it or in
the dressing room. The emotional glimpses he gives us vary from sensual, erotic
and intimate to private and solitary.
What makes Bonnard's depiction of his lover particularly
poignant is that in later life Marthe suffered from a skin
disease. Her skin, so lovingly portrayed by his
brushwork, was in reality blemished. She needed to
immerse herself in water to relieve herself of pain.
Still Bonnard continued to paint her at the bath, ignoring
her imperfections and painting her as the beautiful
young woman he remembered. So much of her time was
spent in, entering or emerging from a bath that the artist
was able to perfect his skills.
The later nudes are less erotic, more mature, with an increased
intensity marked by saturation of color and stronger sense of pose.
Take Nude Crouching in the Bath, painted in 1940 from sketches he
had made two years earlier. The body seems to escape from the
confines of the canvas, contrasting it with earlier images that show
a more meditative figure, Lying motionless and unaffected by time.
The image - painted before Marthe died in 1942 - also suggested
the notion of regeneration and resurrection, a strong feature of
Bonnard's late work.
Pierre Bonnard “Nude in Bath”
Death had figured in their relationship two
decades earlier. In 1918 Bonnard had met Renee
Monchaty and had asked her to model for him.
The two became lovers and in 1921 travelled to
Rome together, though the artist continued to
see Marthe.
Understandably there was much jealousy.
Bonnard appears to have made his choice and on
August 15, 1925, he married Marthe. The jilted
Renee committed suicide less than a month later.
Pierre Bonnard
“L'homme et la
Femme”
Pierre Bonnard “Before Dinner” 1924
As a young man, Bonnard came to prominence
as a founding member of an influential group
of Parisian artists who called themselves "the
Nabis", derived from the Hebrew word for
prophet. Among them were Paul Serusier,
Edouard Vuillard, Maurice Denis and Felix
Vallotton - and their chief inspiration was the
symbolism of Paul Gauguin whose paintings
were typified by logical composition,
simplification of form and the use of luminous
and pure color.
Paul Gauguin, “Vision after the Sermon”
Vincent Van Gogh, Irises
Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night
Bonnard was modest and well-liked by his artist friends but he was
under the yoke of parental ambition. His family was upper middleclass and his father, a senior figure in the French civil service,
reacted like most fathers when his son confessed his dream of
becoming an artist - insisting that young Pierre continue studying for
a legal career.
For several years, Bonnard did both, enrolling for art classes while
qualifying as a barrister. The defining moment came in 1890 when a
large collection of Japanese prints, woodcuts and illustrated books
opened in Paris. Of all the Nabis, Bonnard was the most impressed,
earning him the nickname within the group of "the very Japanese
Nabi". Inspired, he began to produce a highly decorative style in his
paintings, prints and posters.
About the same time, his most famous poster began appearing all over
Paris. He had won a poster design competition in 1889 for FranceChampagne and the finished article was considered startling. Instead
of concentrating on the product itself, Bonnard conveyed the sense
of joy and vitality that came from opening a bottle of champagne.
His success did not just bring him monetary reward or the accolade
of his peers, it also helped convince his father that he had a future as
a professional decorative artist.
Pierre Bonnard “Women in the Garden”
Pierre Bonnard
France Champagne
poster.
Toulouse Lautrec
Toulouse Lautrec “The Kiss”
The Paris of the 1890s has been much caricatured, most
recently in Baz Lurhman's Moulin Rouge. By no means
was everyone "gay" (reference to the gay 90’s term
used to describe Paris in the 1890’s) - just think of Van
Gogh or Gauguin, himself so embittered that he would
flee Europe forever. And yet to a young man like
Bonnard, it was a city of infinite titillation and promise.
Fashions were outrageous confections of frills and
feathers, the Eiffel Tower was newly erected and the
nightclubs were citadels of sensuality.
Unlike his friend Toulouse-Lautrec, for example, who
painted from his vantage point as a participant of the
craziness that was Paris in the 1890’s, Bonnard
preferred to distance himself, to depict himself as an
outsider interpreting something foreign to him.
Pierre Bonnard “Morning in Paris”
Pierre Bonnard
“Nude Woman
Lying in Bed”
In 1926, the year after he married Marthe, Bonnard
bought a house, Le Bosquet, in Le Cannet on the Cote
d'Azur, not far from Cannes. Once it was renovated,
Bonnard wrote to Matisse, who lived in nearby Nice, to
visit them, describing his house as "in the highest street
in the neighbourhood - the house is pink."
From then onwards, the Bonnards increasingly spent their
time there. As well as interiors and landscapes of the
surrounding countryside, Bonnard painted still life.
The Provencal Jug. Painted in 1930, shows the detail of
the mantelpiece in their small sitting room on the first
floor of the house. The vase is filled with wilted irises
and marigolds.
Standing out from a yellow background, it suggests an
empty interior bathed in intense southern light. Yet, at
the right of the picture, notice the arm of a woman presumably Marthe.
Pierre Bonnard
“The Provincial
Jug”
1930
Pierre Bonnard, “Dining room in the Country”
Bonnard had painted self-portraits all his life, but it
was only in the 1930s that he took this aspect of
his work seriously. This self portrait is generally
considered to be the last one he painted, in 1945.
At this time of his life he was filled with grief.
Marthe had died in 1942 and, one by one, his
lifelong artist friends had also departed - Vuillard
in 1940, Denis in 1943, Roussel in 1944.
Even though Bonnard had been able to continue
painting at Le Cannet throughout the war, there
was no disguising France's sense of humiliation
by Hitler. Increasingly isolated, Bonnard the man
was overwhelmed by sadness and despair.
Pierre Bonnard
“Self Portrait”
Considered to be
his last self
portrait.
Pierre Bonnard
“The Almond tree in
Bloom”
Accepted as his last
painting.