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Collection

An image of La Revue Blanche by Pierre Bonnard

Pierre Bonnard

(France 03 Oct 1867–23 Jan 1947)

Title
La Revue Blanche
Year
1894
Media category
Print
Materials used
colour lithograph
Dimensions

80.9 x 62.5cm sheet

Credit
Purchased 1978
Accession number
206.1978
Copyright
© Pierre Bonnard/ADAGP. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney
Location
Not on display
Further information

The flair and sophistication of the 'fin de siecle' are indelibly stamped on this image. It could serve as an advertisement for a cultural period as opposed to a mere periodical. As a pre-eminent journal of innovation and taste in the 1890s, 'La revue blanche' played a vital part in promoting the work of the generation of artists that included Edouard Vuillard and Pierre Bonnard. In association with other young artists, these painter-printmakers formed the Nabis, a collective dedicated to decorative principles and daring design strategies. Bonnard was the most gifted and productive graphic artist in the group. Influenced by the example of Gauguin and Japanese prints, he adapted them to a personal style that was edgy and off-hand, at the same time as being masterfully controlled. In this lithographic poster an imperturbably modish woman is jostled by a child of almost feral physiognomy. Niceties of lettering and layout are abandoned in pursuit of the asymmetrical silhouettes and acidic tints that Bonnard relished at the time.

Art Gallery Handbook, 1999.

Bibliography (7)

Francis Bouvet, Bonnard: The Complete Graphic Work, England, 1981, cover (colour illus.), 36 (colour illus.), 37 (colour illus.). cat.no. 30

Nicolas Draffin, Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, 'Prints & Drawings', pg. 109-124, Domain, 1988, 119 (colour illus.).

Renée Free, Fin de Siècle Jan 1994, Sydney, Jan 1994.

Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Western Collection: Works on Paper', pg. 78-92, Domain, 1999, 84 (illus.).

Terence Maloon, Paths to Abstraction 1867-1917 2010, Sydney, 2010, 129 (colour illus.).

Jane de Teliga. Prints and Drawings Collection 1., Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection Series 1981, 'Pierre Bonnard: Poster for La Revue Blanche', Sydney, 1981, cover (colour illus.).

Claude Roger-Marx, Bonnard Lithographe, Monte-Carlo, 1952, 58, 59 (colour illus.). cat.no. 48

Exhibition history (2)

Fin de Siècle: posters prints drawings from the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 15 Jan 1994–13 Mar 1994

Paths to Abstraction 1867 to 1917, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 26 Jun 2010–19 Sep 2010