Artists & Illustrators - April 2016_

82 Artists & Illustrators

PIERRE

BONNARD

ARTY FACTS

STEVE PILL EXPLORES THE

COLOURFUL FRENCH PAINTER’S

TECHNIQUES AND INSPIRATIONS

HE WAS IN HARMONY

WITH NATURE

“Bonnard turned everything he

touched into a garden”, writes

Guy Cogeval in new monograph,

Painting Arcadia.

Born in 1867, the French artist

celebrated the union of man and

nature throughout his career, via

a series of bright pastoral scenes

and sultry Mediterranean

seascapes. These visions of

Arcadia, a sort of unspoiled idyll,

were furthered by his magical

handling of colour and light.

HE ABSORBED SPANISH INFLUENCE

Bonnard travelled to Spain in 1901 with a group of

friends, which included the artist Édouard Vuillard.

Bonnard’s photos from the trip reveal a

fascination with the light-filled courtyards and

Islamic decoration of the Alhambra palace, while

paintings such as Sleep bear the influence of

Spanish masters El Greco and Velázquez.

“We need to look at the Masters, but without

exaggerated respect,” he explained.

Pierre Bonnard – Painting Arcadia is published

by Prestel, RRP £50. http://www.prestel.com

HIS MUSE BECAME

HIS WIFE

Bonnard met Marthe de Méligny

in 1893 and immortalised her

in a series of intimate portraits,

such as 1935’s Nude in an

Interior. Despite a relationship

complicated by Bonnard’s

affairs and Marthe’s bouts of

depression, the couple eventually

married in 1925 and stayed

together until her death in 1942.

HE WAS AN EARLY PHOTOGRAPHER

Bonnard took his first photograph in 1891 – just

three years after the first Kodak camera reached the

market. Over the next 30 years, the artist would take

many pictures of Marthe, his family and other models.

In contrast to prevailing styles, Bonnard abandoned

linear perspective and favoured instead informal

compositions that he often echoed in his paintings.

HE WAS A DECORATIVE PAINTER

From the Rococo revival to the Art Nouveau

movement, decorative art was a hot topic in

turn-of-the-century France. Bonnard embraced this,

producing elegant lithographs for advertisements

early in his career and designing folding screens and

painted panels for the homes of several clients.

PIERRE BONNARD,

NUDE IN AN INTERIOR,

1935, OIL ON CANVAS, 134X69.2CM

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART. © 2015 ARTISTS RIGHTS SOCIETY (ARS), NEW YORK/ADAGP, PARIS

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