“This rustic, variegated bouquet may have been placed either in the spacious dining room on the ground floor at Le Bosquet or in the intimate sitting area upstairs where Bonnard and Marthe took their breakfast and lunch each day. As always, however, Bonnard would have painted the composition in his studio, overt description giving way…
Tag: Japonisme
Pierre Bonnard: Renoncules au vase bleu (c1925)
“For Bonnard, the still-life offered a perfect vehicle for his studies in light and color, with bundles of flowers and fruit among his favorite subjects to explore. In the present bouquet, a bright summer arrangement dominated by a group of orange ranunculuses, the flowers have begun to droop, their full, heavy blossoms dipping downwards, over…
Pierre Bonnard: Deux corbeilles de fruits (1935)
“Bonnard’s vividly-colored and masterfully-composed domestic scenes and still lifes, like Deux corbeilles de fruits, circa 1935, would become hallmarks of the artist’s later oeuvre. The present work reveals Bonnard’s ability to synthesize an array of artistic influences, both contemporary and historic. Here, Bonnard appropriates the dynamic diagonal compositional order, tilting perspective, and imaginative use of…
Van Gogh and the Postman
“I’m now working on the portrait of a postman with his dark blue uniform with yellow. A head something like that of Socrates, almost no nose, a high forehead, bald pate, small grey eyes, high coloured full cheeks, a big beard, pepper and salt, big ears.” Vincent van Gogh READ FULL ESSAY: Christie’s “While Roulin…
Van Gogh and Japan: Part 3
Japan in Arles “In early 1888, Van Gogh moved to Arles in the south of France, where he hoped to establish an art colony. Believing that painting could be reinvented through the genre of portraiture, he encouraged his fellow artists to paint themselves, and then to exchange the canvases. After receiving self-portraits from Emile Bernard…
Henri Lebasque: Marthe et Pierre Lebasque dans un intérieur, (1913-14)
Painter of ‘Joy and Light’ Painted in 1913-1914, Marthe et Pierre Lebasque dans un intérieur by Henri Lebasque continues his theme of painting interiors, often including his own family members. This painting depicts Lebasque’s children Marthe and Pierre. As Lisa Banner observes, ‘Intimism, a term which best describes Lebasque’s painting, refers to the close domestic subject…
Pierre Bonnard: Paysage stylisé, Le Grand-Lemps, (c.1890)
Like many of the young artists who were affiliated with the modernist avant-garde on the cusp of the 20th century, Bonnard was a quick and early starter, and he made some remarkable pictures before he was only twenty-five. Executed circa 1890, Paysage stylisé (Le Grand-Lemps) represents the cutting-edge style of a new anti-naturalist tendency in…
Van Gogh & Japan: Part 1
“All my work is based to some extent on Japanese art…” Vincent to his brother Theo from Arles, 15 July 1888 What did Van Gogh learn from Japanese prints? Vincent van Gogh and his brother Theo had an extensive collection of Japanese prints. I want to understand how Japanese art changed van Gogh’s painting. Van…
A Kiss and a Concerto
I never tire of the pure joy surrounding this whole group of talented musicians. Isserlis is a masterful performer – a treat! Do you see the magnificent mural on the wall behind the orchestra? Read more about the mural in Edvard Munch and The Suns 🙂 Gustav Klimt and ‘The Kiss’ “Truth is like…
Edouard Vuillard: The Pot of Flowers (1900)
Edouard Vuillard: The Pot of Flowers (1900) I love everything about this painting by Edouard Vuillard — color, composition, and especially the texture. If it is, indeed, a snapshot of his studio, then it must have been a lovely place to paint.Vuillard selected much of his subject matter;;;
Lilla Cabot Perry: The Blue Kimono (1915)
Who Is Lilla Cabot Perry? Lilla Cabot Perry (1848 – 1933), an American artist and writer, is best known as an Impressionist painter, but she also published four volumes of original poetry and a translation of classical Greek verse. According to National Museum of Women in the Arts, “Although she had no formal art training until age 36,…
Van Gogh & Japan: Part 2
‘Japonaiserie’ Begins The Convention of Kanagawa put an end to the 200-year-old Japanese foreign policy of Seclusion. and opened trade between Japan and the West. Artists like Manet, Degas and Monet, followed by Van Gogh, began to collect the cheap colour wood-block prints called ukiyo-e prints. Vincent and his brother Theo dealt in these prints,…
Maurice Denis: September Evening (1891)
Who Is Maurice Denis? Maurice Denis (November 1870 – 1943) was a French painter, decorative artist and writer who was an important figure in the transitional period between impressionism and modern art. He was associated with Les Nabis then the Symbolist movement, and then with a return to neo-classicism. His theories contributed to the…
Clement Massier: Art Nouveau Enameled Ceramic Plate (c. 1900)
ENAMELED CERAMIC PLATE REPRESENTING MONT FUJI, CIRCA 1900 CLEMENT MASSIER (1844-1917), Height: 42 cm. (16 ½ in.); Length: 30.5 cm. (11 ¾ in.)Origin: House of Art Nouveau Samuel Bing, Paris., Source: Christie’s Bing Who? Samuel Siegfried Bing (1838 – 1905), who usually gave his name as S. Bing (not to be confused with his brother,…
Edouard Vuillard: Deux Femmes dans Interieur (1892)
From the collection of Berkshire Museum Edouard Vuillard, “Two women in an interior”. Watercolor over pencil and paper. Not dated.Christies, “A very rare Nabis watercolor is very complete, in very good condition and is a desirable subject for Vuillard’s early years (his mother and his sister). Signed and indistinctly dedicated lower right. …
Édouard Vuillard: Garden at Vaucresson (1923)
According to Colta Ives (2018), “The enormous appeal of gardens in the early twentieth century, especially to women of means, found frequent expression in the work of Édouard Vuillard, ” (C. Ives, p. 94). This painting was begun in 1920 at Vaucresson, a residential suburb west of Paris, where Vuillard’s friends Lucy and Josse (Jos) Hessel…
At Sunnyside - Where Truth and Beauty Meet 