PIERRE BONNARD
Painting Arcadia
February 6–May 15, 2016 | Legion of Honor
Pierre Bonnard: Painting Arcadia, is the first major international presentation of
Pierre Bonnard’s work to be mounted on the West Coast in half a century.
The exhibition will feature more than seventy works that span the artist’s complete career,
from his early Nabi masterpieces, through his experimental photography,
to the late interior scenes for which he is best known.
Painting Arcadia will offer a fresh interpretation
of Bonnard’s repertoire
Among the many significant paintings on view will be Man and Woman (1900, Musée d’Orsay), in which the artist has depicted his lifelong companion and one of his constant subjects, Marthe de Méligny. Also featured will be such masterpieces as The Boxer (Self-Portrait) (1931, Musée d’Orsay) and The Work Table (1926–1937, National Gallery of Art); and decorative panels and screens, including View from Le Cannet (1927, Musée Bonnard) and Pleasure (1906–1910, Musée d’Orsay).
Pierre Bonnard. 1) “Man and Woman,” 1900. Oil on canvas. 115 x 72.3 cm. Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris2) “Nude in an Interior,” 1935. Oil on canvas. 134 x 69.2 cm. National Gallery of Art © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Pierre Bonnard, “The Work Table,” 1926-37. Oil on canvas. 121.9 x 91.4 cm. National Gallery of Art © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Pierre Bonnard, “View of Le Cannet,” 1927. Oil on canvas, decorative panel. 242.3 x 242 cm. Musée Bonnard © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Pierre Bonnard, “Pleasure (decorative panel for Misia Edwards’s dining room),” 1906-10. Oil on canvas. 247.5 x 297.5 cm. Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
The exhibition celebrates Bonnard (French, 1867–1947) as one of the defining figures of modernism in the transitional period between Impressionism and abstraction. Several themes from Bonnard’s career will emerge, including the artist’s great decorative commissions where the natural world merges with the bright colors and light of the South of France, where windows link interior and exterior spaces, and where intimate scenes disclose unexpected phantasmagorical effects.
1) Pierre Bonnard, “Woman in Dress with White Dots,” 1890-1891. Distemper on paper mounted on canvas. 160.5 x 48 cm.
Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.2) Pierre Bonnard, “Woman sitting with cat,” 1890-1891. Distemper on paper mounted on canvas. 160.5 x 48 cm.
Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.3) Pierre Bonnard, “Woman in Checkered Dress,” 1890-1891. Distemper on paper mounted on canvas. 160.5 x 48 cm.
Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.4) Pierre Bonnard, “Woman in Cape,” 1890-1891. Distemper on paper mounted on canvas. 160.5 x 48 cm. Musée d’Orsay
© 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Pierre Bonnard, “Dancers,” 1896. Oil on cardboard. 28 x 36 cm. Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Pierre Bonnard, “Woman with a Cat, or The Demanding Cat,” 1912. Oil on canvas. 78 x 77.5 cm. Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
1) Pierre Bonnard, “The Checkered Blouse,” 1892. Oil on canvas. 61 x 33 cm. Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.2) Pierre Bonnard, “Homage to Maillol,” 1917. Oil on canvas. 48 x 18.5 cm. Philadelphia Museum of Art © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Pierre Bonnard, “The Dressing Table,” 1908. Oil on canvas. 52 x 45.5 cm. Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Pierre Bonnard, “Table Corner,” 1935. Oil on canvas. 67 x 63.5 cm. Musée d’Orsay, déposé au MNAM © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Pierre Bonnard, “The Large Garden,” 1895. Oil on canvas. 168 x 221 cm. Musée d’Orsay © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Pierre Bonnard, “House amoung the Trees (“My Caravan” at Vernonnet),” ca. 1918. Oil on canvas. 48.6 x 42.2 cm.
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
About the Artist
Born just outside of Paris in 1867, Pierre Bonnard (1867–1947) was the son of a high-ranking bureaucrat in the French War Ministry. In 1887 he enrolled in classes at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he became a student and follower of Paul Gauguin. Gauguin’s teaching inspired a group of young painters known as Les Nabis (after the Hebrew words navi or nabi, meaning prophet), with whom Bonnard joined. By the early years of the 20th century, the Nabis had disbanded, and for the remainder of his career, Bonnard resisted affiliation with any particular school. Instead, he alternated between the themes and techniques of the Impressionists and the abstract visual modes of modernism.
Bonnard worked in many genres and techniques, including painting, drawing and photography. From the domestic and urban scenes of his early Nabi period to the great elegies of the 20th century, Bonnard’s output is grounded in a modernity that was transformed by his knowledge of works from other cultures, including Japanese woodblock prints and Mediterranean mosaics.
* Pierre Bonnard, “Self-Portrait,” c. 1904. Oil on canvas. 18 1/8 x 18 ¾. cm. Private Collection © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Exhibition Organization
This exhibition is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, and the Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid. Presenting Sponsors: the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, Cynthia Fry Gunn and John A. Gunn, the San Francisco Auxiliary of the Fine Arts Museums, and Diane B. Wilsey. Curator’s Circle: the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund, Clare C. McEvoy Charitable Remainder Unitrust and Jay D. McEvoy Trust.Benefactor’s Circle: Lucinda B. Watson. Patron’s Circle: George and Marie Hecksher, and David A. Wollenberg. The catalogue is published with the assistance of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Endowment for Publications. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
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Catalogue
Hardcover and softcover
336 pages
Pierre Bonnard: Painting Arcadia accompanies the first monographic exhibition devoted to the artist to be shown in San Francisco and the first major international presentation of his work to be mounted on the West Coast in more than fifty years.
Organized by the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, with the Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the exhibition and publication offer a representative look of Bonnard’s oeuvre.
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