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Bonnard, Pierre |
Some paintings by Pierre BonnardPierre Bonnard - books
Pierre Bonnard: a biography..
Born Oct. 3, 1867, died Jan. 23, 1947 Pierre Bonnard was born in Paris. At the insistence of his father (a senior civil servant), Bonnnard studied, and graduated in law. But he attended art classes in his spare time. By 1887, he enrolled at the Academie Julian (Paris) and was later admitted to the Beaux-Arts.
A practising lawyer, his focus remained primarily on art. He was one of the first artists to use pure colour in flat patterns enlivened by decorative linear arabesques in paintings, posters, and designs for stained-glass windows and books. With his friend Vuillard, he helped establish a modern style of decoration that was important for the emergence of Art Nouveau in the late 1890s.
In the late 1880s, Bonnard was a founder member of the Nabis (prophet in Hebrew), whose works were influenced by the paintings of Paul Gauguin and Claude Monet. Bonnard drew on Japanese prints for his striking simplifications of form and bold use of bright colours. In 1894, however, he turned to more sombre colours, restricting his paintings to small, natural scenes, where people were caught unguarded. His naturalism was merely a starting point for striking innovations in colour and the construction of perspective. He said: "There is a formula that perfectly fits painting: lots of little lies for the sake of one big truth."
After years of painting trips there, he moved to the south of France (Cannes) in 1925. His stylistic evolution offers a transition from impressionism to an abstract art of colour. Critics now recognize the importance of his contribution to the development of abstraction. During his lifetime, however, they - and some fellow artists - often found his work old-fashioned, because of his commitment to figuration and the narrow scope of his themes. Picasso thought him ‘decadent ‘ a pot-pourri of indecision’.
Monet’s mistress of thirty years (he married her in 1924), Marie Bousin ('Marthe'), was the subject of many of his paintings. Marthe, a nagging, neurotic shrew, died a little before Pierre, in 1942. SOME PIERRE BONNARD PICTURES |
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To view, or buy (in your national currency), these or many other prints of the artist's paintings, please type 'Pierre Bonnard' in the box and click 'Go' |
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Books about Pierre BonnardDepending whether your currency is the dollar or the pound, please follow one of the links below.. |
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For books about the artist in the U.S., please type his name in the box and press Go |
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For books about him in the U.K. please type his name in the box and press Go |
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