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Lot Essay
*This lot may be exempt from sales tax as set forth in the Sales Tax Notice in the back of the catalogue.
In 1912, Pierre Bonnard purchased a modest country house in Vernonnet, a picturesque village near Giverny where the Ile-de-France borders Normandy. He named this residence "Ma Roulotte" (My Caravan), reflecting his love of travel. Following his move, the artist increasingly painted the environment and rituals of his domestic life. He explained, "The artist who paints the emotions creates an enclosed world--the picture--which, like a book, has the same interest no matter where it happens to be. Such an artist, we may imagine, spends a great deal of time doing nothing but looking, both around him and inside him" (quoted in S. Whitfield, Bonnard, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1998, p. 9).
Le déjeuner combines two quintessential subjects of Bonnard's paintings at Vernonnet: a family meal featuring his companion, Marthe (whom he married in 1925), and the dining room of Ma Roulotte. As such, Bonnard reworks a familiar theme of the Nabis painters in the luminous colors of his mature work. Richard Shone has written about this painting: "Where Vallotton or Paul Signac might introduce the sharp flavor of social or psychological observation, Bonnard is more concerned with gesture, odd formal relations, and the diverse coloristic feast offered by a laden table. Bonnard often goes further and introduces a personal note in his eloquent evocation of mood, frequently through the inimitable self-absorption of Marthe, with her particular demeanor expressive of a kind of fatigued delight in the French ritual of a perfectly prepared, swiftly consumed lunch" (The Janice H. Levin Collection of French Art, New York, 2002, pp. 118-119).
The present painting also displays the interplay between interior and exterior that characterize Bonnard's images of the dining room, such as the monumental Salle à manger à la campagne of 1913 (fig.1) and other works from 1921. As in the earlier work, the tilted table presents a view of its objects from above, yet the clearly defined view out the door and window have disappeared. Instead, Bonnard evokes the dining room's red walls, and blue door through his use of color, two rectilinear lines, and the curtains behind Marthe. Jeune femmes au jardin, 1921-23 (fig. 2) presents a similar configuration, as the only the title and the sunshine-yellow background situate the striped table and smiling young woman in an outside landscape. Bonnard liberates intimiste emotional and physical space from physical objects and establishes it in relationship to form and color alone. Discussing Bonnard's paintings of the 1920s, John Rewald states: "While not returning immediately to the soft, blurred outlines that had distinguished many of his works done in the first decade of the twentieth century, [his paintings] appear less insistent on linear structure mainly because their rich, glowing colors again form the center of attention. But behind their intense and opalescent coloration lies a new feeling for plasticity, a new strength" (Pierre Bonnard, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1948, pp. 49-50).
Additionally, the steep viewpoint and unexpected cropping of the present painting may also derive from East Asian imagery. Commenting on the influence of Japanese art in Bonnard's work after 1912, Ursula Perucchi-Petri has written, "Bonnard's late paintings blossom into freely executed color compositions that follow no law but their own. The intricately woven tapestry of color with its warp and weft of figures and objects draws proximity and distance together in a vibrant fabric. This lends the space a floating aspect, which is a continuation, albeit in another form, of the floating world inspired by East Asian art in his early works" (Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late, exh. cat., Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 2002, p. 202). This unusual sense of perspective contributes to the spontaneous, snapshot-like appearance of the present painting. Bonnard, however, maintained that an artist should not allow visual impressions to guide his work: "The presence of the object, of the motif, is extremely distracting for the painter at the moment of painting. Since the point of departure is an idea, the presence of the object invariably subjects the artist to the risk of being so influenced by the immediate view that he loses sight of the original idea. It is through the initial idea that the painter achieves the universal" (quoted in ibid., p. 56).
According to the working methods that Bonnard consolidated in the 1920s and employed unchanged thereafter, the artist would have created a painting such as Le déjeuner in his studio by fusing together sketches, memories, and his imagination. Jörg Zutter has written: "[Bonnard] had a unique talent for depicting the world as a symphony of vivid colors and organic surfaces. His way of painting people suggests a careful balancing act between observing and capturing nature and translating it into vibrant colors and interrelated forms. In their fusions of figuration and abstraction, the way they slip in and out of focus, and their volatile, intoxicating colors, his interpretations of reality are without precedent in early modernism, keeping the viewer in a new kind of vertigo" (Pierre Bonnard: Observing Nature, exh. cat., National Gallery of Australia, 2003, pp. 37-38). The two figures in the present painting reflect this fusion of visual observation and intellectual idea, as the abruptly cropped man on the left is often considered to be Bonnard himself. The male figure is similar to some of the self-portraits that the artist began around 1920 (fig. 3). The image of Marthe in her striped red shirt also appealed to Bonnard on a visual and conceptual level; it adorns her figure at least six other paintings between 1922-1928 such as Femme tenant un chien of 1922 (fig. 4 and lot 70).
Although Bonnard was convinced that art was "a matter of giving life to painting" rather than "a matter of painting life" (quoted in N. Watkins, Bonnard, London, 1994, p. 171), the artist regarded his subjective and intellectual manner of painting as a furtherance of the Impressionist legacy. He established lasting and influential friendships with Renoir and Monet, having painted with the former in the Midi and the latter at Giverny, which was within walking distance from Ma Roulotte. Ultimately, Bonnard asserted: "My friends and I wanted to outshine [the Impressionists] in their naturalistic impressions of color. Art is not Nature" (quoted in T. Hyman, Bonnard, London, 1998, p. 65).
(fig.1) Pierre Bonnard, Salle à manger à la campagne, 1913. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, John R. Van Derlip Fund. BARCODE 20627881
(fig. 2) Pierre Bonnard, Jeune femmes au jardin, 1921-23. Private Collection. BARCODE 20627874
(fig. 3) Pierre Bonnard, Autoportrait à la barbe, 1920. Private Collection. BARCODE 20627867
(fig. 4) Pierre Bonnard, Femme tenant un chien, 1922. BARCODE 20627850
In 1912, Pierre Bonnard purchased a modest country house in Vernonnet, a picturesque village near Giverny where the Ile-de-France borders Normandy. He named this residence "Ma Roulotte" (My Caravan), reflecting his love of travel. Following his move, the artist increasingly painted the environment and rituals of his domestic life. He explained, "The artist who paints the emotions creates an enclosed world--the picture--which, like a book, has the same interest no matter where it happens to be. Such an artist, we may imagine, spends a great deal of time doing nothing but looking, both around him and inside him" (quoted in S. Whitfield, Bonnard, exh. cat., Tate Gallery, London, 1998, p. 9).
Le déjeuner combines two quintessential subjects of Bonnard's paintings at Vernonnet: a family meal featuring his companion, Marthe (whom he married in 1925), and the dining room of Ma Roulotte. As such, Bonnard reworks a familiar theme of the Nabis painters in the luminous colors of his mature work. Richard Shone has written about this painting: "Where Vallotton or Paul Signac might introduce the sharp flavor of social or psychological observation, Bonnard is more concerned with gesture, odd formal relations, and the diverse coloristic feast offered by a laden table. Bonnard often goes further and introduces a personal note in his eloquent evocation of mood, frequently through the inimitable self-absorption of Marthe, with her particular demeanor expressive of a kind of fatigued delight in the French ritual of a perfectly prepared, swiftly consumed lunch" (The Janice H. Levin Collection of French Art, New York, 2002, pp. 118-119).
The present painting also displays the interplay between interior and exterior that characterize Bonnard's images of the dining room, such as the monumental Salle à manger à la campagne of 1913 (fig.1) and other works from 1921. As in the earlier work, the tilted table presents a view of its objects from above, yet the clearly defined view out the door and window have disappeared. Instead, Bonnard evokes the dining room's red walls, and blue door through his use of color, two rectilinear lines, and the curtains behind Marthe. Jeune femmes au jardin, 1921-23 (fig. 2) presents a similar configuration, as the only the title and the sunshine-yellow background situate the striped table and smiling young woman in an outside landscape. Bonnard liberates intimiste emotional and physical space from physical objects and establishes it in relationship to form and color alone. Discussing Bonnard's paintings of the 1920s, John Rewald states: "While not returning immediately to the soft, blurred outlines that had distinguished many of his works done in the first decade of the twentieth century, [his paintings] appear less insistent on linear structure mainly because their rich, glowing colors again form the center of attention. But behind their intense and opalescent coloration lies a new feeling for plasticity, a new strength" (Pierre Bonnard, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1948, pp. 49-50).
Additionally, the steep viewpoint and unexpected cropping of the present painting may also derive from East Asian imagery. Commenting on the influence of Japanese art in Bonnard's work after 1912, Ursula Perucchi-Petri has written, "Bonnard's late paintings blossom into freely executed color compositions that follow no law but their own. The intricately woven tapestry of color with its warp and weft of figures and objects draws proximity and distance together in a vibrant fabric. This lends the space a floating aspect, which is a continuation, albeit in another form, of the floating world inspired by East Asian art in his early works" (Pierre Bonnard: Early and Late, exh. cat., Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., 2002, p. 202). This unusual sense of perspective contributes to the spontaneous, snapshot-like appearance of the present painting. Bonnard, however, maintained that an artist should not allow visual impressions to guide his work: "The presence of the object, of the motif, is extremely distracting for the painter at the moment of painting. Since the point of departure is an idea, the presence of the object invariably subjects the artist to the risk of being so influenced by the immediate view that he loses sight of the original idea. It is through the initial idea that the painter achieves the universal" (quoted in ibid., p. 56).
According to the working methods that Bonnard consolidated in the 1920s and employed unchanged thereafter, the artist would have created a painting such as Le déjeuner in his studio by fusing together sketches, memories, and his imagination. Jörg Zutter has written: "[Bonnard] had a unique talent for depicting the world as a symphony of vivid colors and organic surfaces. His way of painting people suggests a careful balancing act between observing and capturing nature and translating it into vibrant colors and interrelated forms. In their fusions of figuration and abstraction, the way they slip in and out of focus, and their volatile, intoxicating colors, his interpretations of reality are without precedent in early modernism, keeping the viewer in a new kind of vertigo" (Pierre Bonnard: Observing Nature, exh. cat., National Gallery of Australia, 2003, pp. 37-38). The two figures in the present painting reflect this fusion of visual observation and intellectual idea, as the abruptly cropped man on the left is often considered to be Bonnard himself. The male figure is similar to some of the self-portraits that the artist began around 1920 (fig. 3). The image of Marthe in her striped red shirt also appealed to Bonnard on a visual and conceptual level; it adorns her figure at least six other paintings between 1922-1928 such as Femme tenant un chien of 1922 (fig. 4 and lot 70).
Although Bonnard was convinced that art was "a matter of giving life to painting" rather than "a matter of painting life" (quoted in N. Watkins, Bonnard, London, 1994, p. 171), the artist regarded his subjective and intellectual manner of painting as a furtherance of the Impressionist legacy. He established lasting and influential friendships with Renoir and Monet, having painted with the former in the Midi and the latter at Giverny, which was within walking distance from Ma Roulotte. Ultimately, Bonnard asserted: "My friends and I wanted to outshine [the Impressionists] in their naturalistic impressions of color. Art is not Nature" (quoted in T. Hyman, Bonnard, London, 1998, p. 65).
(fig.1) Pierre Bonnard, Salle à manger à la campagne, 1913. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, John R. Van Derlip Fund. BARCODE 20627881
(fig. 2) Pierre Bonnard, Jeune femmes au jardin, 1921-23. Private Collection. BARCODE 20627874
(fig. 3) Pierre Bonnard, Autoportrait à la barbe, 1920. Private Collection. BARCODE 20627867
(fig. 4) Pierre Bonnard, Femme tenant un chien, 1922. BARCODE 20627850