Le Cannet, ciel d'orage by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947).
Graphite pencil on paper.
c1920
When the eye sees something beautiful, the hand wants to draw it.
Pierre Bonnard drew everywhere and at any time. He often felt ‘weak in front of nature’, compelled to capture fleeting moments of beauty almost at the very instant he experienced them.
Often acknowledged as one of the great masters of modern painting, he was also an exceptional draftsman capable of communicating the experience of colour with just a pencil and scrap of paper. On the piece of paper was everything he would later need in the studio. Bonnard painted from memory, but that memory was almost always rooted in a particular visual experience, brought back to life before the canvas by the small drawing he had made at the moment he first encountered it.
Bonnard’s drawings are paintings in miniature. When placed alongside the finished works that grew from them, it becomes clear that the essential elements of the painting are already present in the drawing. What might initially appear to be casual improvised marks are in fact carefully attuned to the final image - a blurred smudge beside a loose scribble can become a violet shadow and a paler blue one, retaining precisely the same relationship between them. A scattering of dots in two separate areas can develop into fields of luminous colour, creating a sense of both distance and proximity while casting the same intense light towards the viewer. Even the subtlest variations in colour are anticipated in the drawing, expressed through changes in the sharpness, density and spacing of the marks.
“Drawing is feeling. Colour is an act of reason” - Pierre Bonnard
Provenance:
Galerie Vincent Bouillet.
Private Collection, Paris. Acquired from the above.
Literature:
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Mr Pierre Vernon.
London collection or worldwide shipping available on all items. Please email beforehand for a quote, or select pick up at checkout.
Le Cannet, ciel d'orage by Pierre Bonnard (1867-1947).
Graphite pencil on paper.
c1920
When the eye sees something beautiful, the hand wants to draw it.
Pierre Bonnard drew everywhere and at any time. He often felt ‘weak in front of nature’, compelled to capture fleeting moments of beauty almost at the very instant he experienced them.
Often acknowledged as one of the great masters of modern painting, he was also an exceptional draftsman capable of communicating the experience of colour with just a pencil and scrap of paper. On the piece of paper was everything he would later need in the studio. Bonnard painted from memory, but that memory was almost always rooted in a particular visual experience, brought back to life before the canvas by the small drawing he had made at the moment he first encountered it.
Bonnard’s drawings are paintings in miniature. When placed alongside the finished works that grew from them, it becomes clear that the essential elements of the painting are already present in the drawing. What might initially appear to be casual improvised marks are in fact carefully attuned to the final image - a blurred smudge beside a loose scribble can become a violet shadow and a paler blue one, retaining precisely the same relationship between them. A scattering of dots in two separate areas can develop into fields of luminous colour, creating a sense of both distance and proximity while casting the same intense light towards the viewer. Even the subtlest variations in colour are anticipated in the drawing, expressed through changes in the sharpness, density and spacing of the marks.
“Drawing is feeling. Colour is an act of reason” - Pierre Bonnard
Provenance:
Galerie Vincent Bouillet.
Private Collection, Paris. Acquired from the above.
Literature:
The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Mr Pierre Vernon.
London collection or worldwide shipping available on all items. Please email beforehand for a quote, or select pick up at checkout.
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